The Quadram Institute has made two key appointnments to its business development and commercialisation team on the Norwich Research Park.

The institute’s mission is to deliver healthier lives through innovation in gut health, microbiology, and food. The Quadram Institute fully opened in 2019 and is creating new interfaces between food science, gut biology, and human health, capitalising on the world-class bioscience cluster based at the Norwich Research Park.

At the Quadram Institute, scientists and NHS clinicians work closely with major national and international funding bodies and charities, collaborators, and investors to ensure translation of our fundamental science to benefit patients, consumers, and wider society.

The institute’s business development team has been boosted by the appointment of Dr Roberto Zanchi as Head of Business Development and Commercialisation and Dr Stephen Rhind as Commercialisation Manager. Dr Zanchi has joined the Quadram from LifeArc and Dr Rhind from King’s College London.

The business development team’s focus is on innovation, commercialisation and technology transfer and Roberto and Stephen report in to the Quadram Institute’s Chief Business Officer, Dr Graeme Brown.

Dr Zanchi comes to the Quadram from LifeArc, where he was providing end-to-end business development support for the neuroscience portfolio of early drug discovery projects at LifeArc, a leading medical research charity.

His background is in molecular and synthetic biology. During his postdoctoral work in Dr Jason Chin’s group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, he contributed to the development of novel methods to incorporate designer amino acids at a defined site in a protein of choice by means of genetic-code expansion in mammalian model systems. He received his BSc degree in Molecular Biology from University College London and his PhD also in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge.

Dr Rhind previously worked at King’s Commercialisation Institute working with academics to translate their research work in partnerships or commercial end points.  He was part of a team that negotiated the spin-out from King’s College London (“KCL”) and University College London of a new company called Quell Therapeutics Ltd which was funded in a £35 million Series A round by Syncona partners during Q2 2019.

He has worked in industry for more than 30 years the majority of which represents business development (including sales) and commercial valuation of assets for a range of four public UK biotech companies, a Singaporean private company and a boutique development and licensing consultancy. He started his career with a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Chief Business Officer Dr Graeme Brown said: “I am delighted to welcome Roberto and Stephen to the wider team at the Quadram Institute. The Quadram is a young and innovative bioscience institute working at a very exciting scientific frontier between the gut microbiome, food, and human health. Our unique partnership with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the University of East Anglia, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Quadram Institute Bioscience offers great potential for innovation and commercialisation.”

Head of business development and commercialisation Dr Roberto Zanchi said; “I’m delighted to be joining the Quadram Institute at a really exciting time in its evolution. It’s a truly unique institute working on some very exciting science with huge potential for some of the great challenges we are facing. I’m looking forward to helping shape and develop the innovation and entrepreneurial capability of the Quadram.”

Commercialisation manager Dr Stephen Rhind said: “The Quadram Institute is an exciting place to be working and I am looking forward to working with the scientists and the wider team to develop the institute’s commercialisation culture and programme.”