Company
LIFT BioSciences is pioneering a new class of immunotherapy for hard-to-treat cancers based on allogeneic Immuno-Modulatory Alpha Neutrophils (IMANs)®. Our proprietary, platform harnesses neutrophils’ innate tumour-homing and infiltrating attributes, combined with their ability to directly kill cancer cells and safely orchestrate broader immune responses, offering a powerful and antigen-independent treatment option to overcome cancer resistance mechanisms, like suppressive tumour environment and immune evasion.
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Backed by deep neutrophil biology expertise and a scalable manufacturing platform, LIFT is advancing a differentiated pipeline with application across multiple solid cancers.
Board of Directors
With over 20 years of biotech R&D experience building out drug pipelines and helping drive several multi-billion-dollar companies from start-up, Tony is one of Biotech’s most successful leaders. He is the current CEO of Evox Therapeutics Ltd, and was formerly CSO of Ablynx, Moderna Therapeutics, Alnylam and Tolerx Inc.
Dr Antonin de Fougerolles
Chairman of the Board
Marco Gottardis has over 30 years of experience as a cancer research investigator in both biotech/large pharma and over 35 of years of experience overall in translational cancer research. Former JANSSEN VP of Oncology and Innovation and an expert in Immuno-Oncology where he licensed technologies and established allogenic cell therapy and ADC platforms. Former discovery and early development lead at BMS Oncology. Co-authored over 100 publications and is co-inventor on multiple patents.
Dr Marco Gottardis
Non-Executive Director
Dr. Jarod Rutledge is the Director of Biotechnology and Life Sciences at Starbloom Capital – a stage-agnostic investment firm focused on frontier biotechnology and AI – and the Director of Longevity Research at the Amaranth Foundation – a philanthropic organization for moonshot neuroscience, AI, and longevity research. A recovering academic, Jarod’s research has leveraged AI, multi-omics, and advanced imaging data to build more predictive tools for drug development. His work has been published in Nature, Cell, Science, and featured in global news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. He is a co-founder of companies in CNS drug development, molecular diagnostics, and computer vision technology. Jarod received a Ph.D. in Genetics from Stanford University and completed postdoctoral training in AI at Stanford and EMBL Heidelberg.
Dr Jarod Rutledge
Non-Executive Director & Investor Representative
Alex founded LIfT in 2016 after losing his mother to pancreatic cancer tumour escape. Alex saw a new way to revolutionise cancer treatment, based on a new type of immuno-cell therapy that built on the uncompleted neutrophil infusion work by renown Immunologists, Professor Zheng Cui and the late Dr. Lloyd J. Old the founder of tumour immunology . Alex is a serial entrepreneur, inventor, economist & biologist with 20 years’ experience in disruptive healthcare. Alex helped to bring to market multiple first-in-class biopharma drugs including T-Vec the first oncolytic vaccine, Erbitux the first cancer drug to use a genetic test to guide use and Abraxane, one of the few drugs licensed for pancreatic cancer in the last decade.
Alex Blyth
Founder & Observer
Harry Robb is a Principal at Lifespan Vision Ventures, backing breakthrough longevity-biotechnology companies, and at Barron Venture Partners, focused on deep-tech innovation. Previously, he managed investments at Longevity.Technology, the leading media and investment platform for the longevity sector. He holds a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from King’s College London and an MSc in Applied Biosciences & Biotechnology from Imperial College London.
Harry Robb
Observer & Investor Representative
Based in London, James is an experienced venture capital investor investing in life sciences and medical technologies from Seed to Series A stages and beyond. He brings over 15 years of investment and portfolio management experience of spinouts, startups and scaleups across the UK, Europe and the US, collaborating effectively with senior executives and board members to achieve financial, strategic and hiring objectives.
Within the Private Equity investment team at Foresight Group, James leads on the investment and portfolio management of life sciences and medical technologies companies across stages of product development and commercial growth with support from Foresight’s funds alongside other UK and international investors. In this role he represents Foresight on the board of several portfolio companies, including LIfT.
James Wong
Observer & Investor Representative
Paige Uher is the CEO of the Sijbrandij Foundation, where she leads a team to pursue under-explored solutions with the potential to deliver 100x social return. With a focus on AI safety, housing, education, healthcare, climate, and public Big Art, the Foundation supports unconventional ideas that can unlock measurable, meaningful change.
She brings over two decades of professional experience spanning capital markets, combining operational rigor with financial discipline to support ideas that can shift systems and unlock scalable impact. Prior to leading the Foundation, she held senior roles in hedge funds, private equity, and asset management. She earned her Masters in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an emphasis on Public Management and Social Innovation, and a BS in Communication Studies from Texas Christian University.
Paige Uher
Observer & Investor Representative
Leadership Team
Bo Rode Hansen has over two decades of transformational leadership experience involving general management, R&D, BD, financing, IPO and M&A in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. He was formerly CEO and President of Scandion Oncology A/S, prior to which he held several senior positions at Genevant Sciences, Roche and Santaris Pharma A/S, where he chaired the R&D Operational Committee. He is currently an Executive Advisor for Argo Bio Studio and acting CEO of Laigo Bio BV.
Dr Bo Rode Hansen PhD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer Ad Interim
Mark Exley, Ph.D., is LIfTs Chief Scientific Officer and a Harvard Immunologist with over 30 years' experience. He co-founded NKT Therapeutics and MiNK Therapeutics and is former CSO of Imvax.
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Mark has raised $160m+, taken 2 companies to or close to IPO, and published 130+ papers. He serves on top journal editorial boards.
Mark received his B.S. from Imperial College, MS from Kings College and his Ph.D. from the Institute of Cancer Research, all in London, UK. He completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston.
Dr Mark A. Exley
Chief Scientific Officer
Alfonso Quintás-Cardama is a Hematologist/Medical Oncologist with 25 years’ experience in anticancer agents, and deep experience in developing cellular therapies. His experience includes CMO for TCR² Therapeutics CAR-T platform, Head of Clinical Development in Cell Therapies for GSK and Global Clinical Lead for Kymriah at Novartis where he was instrumental in gaining approval for the world’s first cancer cell therapy. Former fellow at MD Anderson Cancer where he developed multiple cancer therapies that were granted FDA approval.
Dr Alfonso Quintas Cardama
Acting Chief Medical Officer
Shrikesh is an experienced finance and operations professional with 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles and the last 20 years in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices sectors. He has worked with PE/ VC backed, US and UK listed and owner-managed organisations in both Group and Corporate roles. Shrikesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the ICAEW and has an MBA from Imperial College London.
Shrikesh is an experienced finance and operations professional with 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles and the last 20 years in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices sectors. He has worked with PE/ VC backed, US and UK listed and owner-managed organisations in both Group and Corporate roles. Shrikesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the ICAEW and has an MBA from Imperial College London.
Shrikesh Shah
Executive Vice President,
Finance & Operations
Andrew is a pharmaceutical development and regulatory expert with over 35 years of experience in oncology and cell therapies. He has a wealth of experience at multiple managerial levels within pharmaceutical companies and most recently as Senior Vice President for Quality, Regulatory and CMC, for IO Biotech Limited, gaining significant experience in co-ordinating, planning and running a global development of ATMPs and biologics.
Andrew Willis
Chief Development & Regulatory Officer
Key Personnel
Aoife McGinley is a cellular immunologist with deep expertise in neutrophil and T cell biology, specialising in the discovery and preclinical development of next-generation immunotherapies. With experience spanning academia and biotech, she has led programmes from early discovery through IND-enabling studies and brings a strong track record in mechanism-of-action research, translational strategy, and advanced assay development.
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At LIFT BioSciences, Aoife heads the biology function, driving the scientific and nonclinical strategy behind the company’s first-in-class IMAN neutrophil therapy and preparing it for first-in-human evaluation.
Dr Aoife McGinley
Head of Biology
James is Head of Translational Biology at LIfT BioSciences, where he is responsible for the translational endpoints for the company’s first-in-human neutrophil cell therapy trial. He has over a decade of industry experience spanning oncology, fibrosis, neurodegeneration and cell therapy, including leadership roles small biotech and big Pharma, where he has built and led high-performing preclinical cell biology laboratories and discovery teams. James has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and has extensive experience in translational pharmacology, target validation and mechanistic biology across industry and academia. He holds a PhD in Neuroendocrinology from the University of Bristol, an MSc in Molecular Neuroscience (Bristol) and a BSc in Pharmacology from the University of Southampton.
Dr James Roper
Head of Translational Biology
Dr Patel obtained his Ph.D in viral immunology from Cardiff University, Wales, after which he worked at GammaDelta Therapeutics, using his skills in cell and molecular biology to develop new platforms and gene engineering strategies. He is fascinated by basic scientific discoveries and how they can be translated into novel applications for immunotherapies.
Dr Mihil Patel
Cell & Gene Engineering Lead