Mogrify, a UK company aiming to transform the development of cell therapies, today announced the appointment of Dr Jane Osbourn, OBE, as Chair of the Board. In addition to this role, Osbourn will become a Member of the Scientific Advisory Board and support the company's executive team in therapeutic program selection, industrial partner development, mentoring and investor relations.
Osbourn has over 30 years' experience in biologics discovery and development. Most recently, she was Vice President for Research and Development and Site Leader at MedImmune (AstraZeneca), formerly Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT), where she contributed to the development of phage display technology.
The new addition is a scientific leader in the field of antibody engineering, and has made a significant contribution to the discovery and development of eight marketed drugs (including HUMIRA and BENLYSTA) and over 40 clinical candidates.
Osbourn originated several key publications and patents and has presented at a number of parliamentary Select Committees. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the BioIndustry Association, a Director of Babraham Bioscience Technologies, a Director of Cambridge Enterprise and was awarded an OBE this year for services to drug discovery, development and biotechnology.
Her education background is a doctorate from the John Innes Institute in Norwich, UK and a first-class degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge.
Dr Darrin M Disley, OBE, CEO of Mogrify, said: "Dr Osbourn is an inspirational leader in our industry who has developed numerous life-saving therapies and is renowned for her expertise in drug discovery and development among the global biotech and pharma communities. As Chair, her guidance will be invaluable to Mogrify as we build a scalable infrastructure and the capability to develop novel cell therapies addressing musculoskeletal, auto-immune, cancer immunotherapy, ocular and respiratory diseases as well as generating and licensing novel IP related to cell conversions that exhibit safety, efficacy and scalable manufacturing profiles suitable for development as cell therapies."