General Partner at Ash Biotech. CEO at Psynixis
Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Current
-
- General Partner & Co-Founder at Ash Biotech
- CEO & Co-Founder at Psynixis
- Past
-
- CIO & Board Member at TagRed
- Various Senior Roles at Cambridge Antibody Technology
- MRC Research Fellow at University of Oxford
- Education
-
- University of Cambridge
- Birkbeck, U. of London
- University of York
- Recommended
-
2 people have recommended Simon - Connections
-
86
connections
- Industry
- Biotechnology
- Websites
Simon Brocklehurst’s Summary
Current roles:
o General Partner and Board Member at Ash Biotech (www.ashbiotech.com). Sector: Biotechnology. Co-Founder.
o CEO of Psynixis (www.psynixis.com). Sector: Internet and mobile software. Co-Founder.
I maintain a blog (mainly tech-related, with occasional VC and life sciences posts): http://blog.psynixis.com/
Background
As a UK-based serial entrepreneur, I have international reputations in the fields of biotechnology and internet/mobile software. I have played key roles in growing companies from from millions to billions of dollars in value; and in selling, negotiating and executing deals valued up to hundreds of millions of dollars in the US and Europe. My experience spans public and privately held companies. Prior to my business career, I held a personal fellowship at the University of Oxford. I have a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
In biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, I have experience of all stages of drug development from research to the clinic. I pioneered: the application of informatics to antibody-based drug discovery; and the development of wet lab scientific technologies for:
o High-throughput and ultra high-throughput antibody drug screening
o High-throughput, high-content screening of small molecule drugs
From an IT perspective, I have been responsible for IT strategy in both public and venture-capital backed companies valued from millions, through hundreds of millions, to billions of dollars. I have experience of multiple sectors spanning Enterprise and Consumer spaces. Software I have written either myself, or by teams I was responsible for, has been licensed by organisatons throughout the US, Europe and East Asia - including Enterprise-class systems deployed in biotech and pharma companies in the US, Europe and Japan; and application software licensed by all the world's leading research institutions e.g. Harvard, MIT, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge and NASA.
Simon Brocklehurst’s Specialties:
o The productive use of scientific platform technologies, IT and robotics in the biotech and pharma industries as applied to all stages of drug development, from research through pre-clinical to clinical trials.
o High-throughput screening of biologics (antibodies, protein frameworks, peptides)
o High-content screening (static image and high-def video) of small molecules
o Cutting-edge software development and IT infrastructure
o Internet and mobile
Simon Brocklehurst’s Experience
-
General Partner & Co-Founder
Ash Biotech
(Biotechnology industry)
March 2004 — Present (5 years 9 months)
I co-founded Ash Biotech. Ash Biotech provides advanced automation systems and services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. We have offerings specifically designed to meet the different needs of start-ups and large organizations, and focus areas in: digital imaging and computer vision; high-content and high-throughput screening; and antibody drug discovery. Our offerings combine world-class scientific expertise, with a fully-integrated capability in mechatronics (robotics, electronics, mechanical engineering, software and informatics). In this role, I have co-developed new scientific platforms and screening technology platforms for drug discovery; and have been responsible for developing and delivering IT strategy in companies valued up to hundreds of millions dollars, covering research through clinical development. We have helped privately held companies achieve exits of hundreds of millions of dollars.
-
CEO & Co-Founder
Psynixis
(Computer Software industry)
June 2003 — Present (6 years 6 months)
I co-founded Psynixis. Psynixis is a software company focused around mobile phones and the Internet. We have two products currently in development; these will be delivered to consumers in the form of on-line services.
-
CIO & Board Member
TagRed
(Public Company; Biotechnology industry)
November 2002 — June 2003 (8 months)
TagRed was a 100% owned subsidiary of Cambridge Antibody Technology Group plc (see below). The company was created to develop and commercially exploit innovations in the fields of personalised medicine, biochips and antibodies. The company successfully developed a novel antibody biochip platform technology for multiplexed immunoassays; and a novel ultra high-throughput antibody screening technology for the rapid discovery of new antibodies. The ambition of the company was to build a next-generation, de-risked pharmaceutical company with a pipeline of its own drugs developed using antibody biochip-based patient profiling.
-
Various Senior Roles
Cambridge Antibody Technology
(Public Company; CAT / CATG; Biotechnology industry)
June 1997 — June 2003 (6 years 1 month)
Prior to its acquisition by AstraZeneca in 2006, CAT was the UK's leading biotech company. The company pioneered the fields of human antibodies and phage display for drug discovery. Reporting into the Board, had various job titles over the years (e.g. Head of Bioinformatics, Head of Bioinformatics & Advanced IS, Director of Informatics & Robotics) and at various times served on the senior leadership teams of Research/Drug Discovery, and of the Technology Division. Joined company at IPO. Founded and built the company's capability in informatics, advanced IS and robotics. Presented annual and interim results to the city with the CEO and CFO; was a core part of the business development team presenting the company around the world. Played a key role in helping grow the company from a value of £30M to over £1B. Cash brought in from deals I played a key role in bringing in was more than £100M, and helped position the company to raise a further £90M in a secondary offering.
-
MRC Research Fellow
University of Oxford
(Educational Institution; 5001-10,000 employees; Research industry)
1994 — 1997 (3 years )
Personal fellowship at the University of Oxford. Pioneered the field of structural bioinformatics. Computer system, NAOMI, licensed to hundreds of the worlds leading research institutions and universities, including: Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge and NASA. Created one of the first Web-sites for life sciences, in the field of cytokine biology: including structure, function and commercial utility as pharmaceutical and biotechnology drug targets.
Simon Brocklehurst’s Education
-
University of Cambridge
PhD , Biochemistry , 1990 — 1994
SERC-Funded (now BBSRC) Earmarked Studentship, Based in the Cambridge Centre For Molecular Recognition
- Activities and Societies:
- Member of Darwin College
-
Birkbeck, U. of London
MSc (with Distinction) , Computer Modelling of Biological Processes , 1989 — 1990
SERC-Funded (now BBSRC) studentship, based in Dept of Crystallography.
-
University of York
BSc , Chemistry , 1986 — 1989
- Activities and Societies:
- Member of Derwent College
