EXPERTS IN INSECT, MAMMALIAN AND BACTERIAL EXPRESSION

Scientist working with petri dishes in a lab

Meet the board at OET

Oxford Expression Technologies Ltd provides products, services and consultancy to the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries from its base in Oxford, England. We have a fantastic, knowledgeable, and highly experienced board, who bring numerous qualifications, degrees and skills to the table. Find out more about our highly regarded board members or get in touch with us today.

Professor Linda King

Professor Linda King is Professor of Virology and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Global Partnerships) for Oxford Brookes University. Following the completion of her doctorate in molecular virology at Oxford University in 1985, Linda’s research at Oxford Brookes since 1986 has focused on various aspects of insect virology with particular emphasis on Baculovirus expression systems. She has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, reviews and book chapters, and has been Insect Virus Editor for The Journal of General Virology. Linda has spoken at numerous national and international meetings, including The American Society for Virology, The Society for Invertebrate Pathology, Peptalk, Global Protein Summit & Baculovirus Technology. Linda played an integral role in the establishment of Oxford Expression Technologies (OET), trading under Oxford Brookes Enterprises Ltd, in 1997.

Professor Robert Possee

After graduating in Biological Sciences from the University of Birmingham, Robert Possee moved to the University of Warwick to undertake a PhD on influenza viruses. In 1981, he moved to the NERC Institute of Virology, latterly Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Oxford to work on the molecular biology of insect baculoviruses, which at the time were used for insect biocontrol. The next ten years saw the development of baculovirus expression vector systems at Oxford. His group produced the first of many innovations to the system that permitted easier construction of baculovirus expression vectors. More recently, the basic research developed in his group has been applied to the creation of the flashBAC™ system for high throughput generation of recombinant virus vectors. In 1999 he received an Individual Merit Promotion award from NERC in recognition of his achievements in insect virology. In 2002 he was appointed Assistant Director of CEH Oxford and was Acting Director in 2003-2004. In 2010 after the closure of CEH Oxford during restructuring he moved to work at CEH Wallingford. In 2014 he left CEH and joined OET as Chief Scientist before being appointed CEO in 2015. Robert is a member of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology an Editorial Board member for Virology and Biological Control.

Tim Bernard

Tim Bernard is currently CEO of Pivotal Scientific Limited and Co-Founder of 2BScientific Limited since their inception in 2008/2009. Tim has been involved in the life science industry for over 35 years and has acquired and sold businesses, as well as created and expanded businesses from inception to their eventual sale. Companies for which Tim has been a Board member include Serotec, Innova Biosciences, Everest Biotech, Nordic-MUbio, Medix Biochemica, Absolute Antibody and more recently GlykoGen and Cellexus.

Professor Alistair Fitt

Professor Alistair Fitt is Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University. Alistair joined Brookes as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Transfer in March 2011 from the University of Southampton where he worked for 22 years, latterly as the Head of the School of Mathematics and then Pro Vice-Chancellor, International. He studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and specialises in industrial applied mathematics research. He has published three books and more than 80 research papers and has spent many years attending study groups with industry all over the world, where real unsolved industrial problems are studied by groups of mathematicians. He joined the board at OET in 2012.

Dr John Harris

Dr John Harris brings to OET vision, extensive leadership, and managerial competence developed within well respected Blue-Chip, Governmental and SME organisations specialised in the Life Sciences Sectors. Over his 37 years working in this space (including 23 years at CEO level), he has developed considerable experience and expertise within the Biotech, pharmaceutical, medical technology, and agrochemicals arenas ranging through research, development, registration, manufacture, marketing, sales, leveraging investment, and company leadership. Previous roles include CEO of OBN Group, IPS Specials, Key Organics, Synerga, TraceTag International, AgriSense-BCS, and senior managerial roles in Syngenta, Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Monsanto (Belgium), and Shell. He also received the HSBC / SVBA Business Leader of the Year 2019 Award and holds a BSc in Biology, a PhD in Biochemistry, and an MBA.