Biotechnology for the Non-Biotechnologist (June 10-14, 2026)

Speakers

Adekunle Onadipe

Dr Adekunle Onadipe is an Associate Research Fellow in Bioprocess R&D, Cell Line Development at Pfizer Inc. USA. He leads a group of scientists responsible for the construction, development and characterization of mammalian and microbial cell lines for biotherapeutics and vaccines production. His group is also involved in the scale-up of bioprocesses from bench top to pilot scale bioreactors and process development for the establishment of cell banks to support the manufacture of biopharmaceutical products for early phase clinical trials.

Kunle joined Pfizer Limited in the UK in 2005 in Discovery Biology with responsibility for optimizing cell culture processes for the production of cell-based assay reagents. Prior to this he worked for 15 years at Lonza Biologics plc., in Slough UK where, as a Principal Group Leader in cell culture process development, he was responsible for constructing and developing production mammalian cell lines and culture processes, subsequently transferring them to full-scale production for clinical trials.

A microbiologist by training, Kunle has been involved in the production of biopharmaceuticals for more than 30 years and has a broad experience of microbial and mammalian cell culture methods. He obtained his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Surrey, Guildford UK.

Philip Webber

Dr. Philip Webber obtained his first degree from Cambridge University, UK (Natural Sciences, Genetics) and then carried out research on the regulation of brain-specific genes at Warwick University, UK, where he obtained his PhD.
He qualified as a UK Chartered Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney with Dehns (formerly Frank B. Dehn & Co.) London and Oxford, and is now a partner in their Life Sciences Group. He has a worldwide client-base including clients from the UK, Scandinavia, the US and Japan. Amongst other things, his work involves the preparation and filing of patent applications in Europe and throughout the world; acting for his clients in opposition procedures at the European Patent Office; and searching for and advising his clients on the relevance of competitors’ patents. He is an active member of the Life Sciences Committee of the UK Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA). He has spoken at a number of European conferences and on BBC Radio on the patenting of biotech inventions, as well as publishing a number of papers in this area.

Adrian Haines

Dr Adrian Haines is a Senior Process Manager within MSAT at Sobi (Swedish Orphan Biovitrum). Adrian has extensive experience in generating mammalian cell lines suitable for the GMP production of biologics and is extensively involved in the scientific oversight of both upstream and downstream process development, and process characterisation studies prior to regulatory filings. He joined the company (then Novimmune, Switzerland, subsequently acquired by Sobi) in 2015 and prior to this he worked at Lonza Biologics in the UK working on projects to develop new technologies and processes for generating manufacturing cell lines. Before that he worked for ML Laboratories/Cobra Research developing UCOE technologies for the expression of proteins in mammalian cells and at Therexsys Ltd, developing antibody targeted gene therapies. Prior to this he worked at Celltech Research Ltd, generating radiolabelling and cross-linking technologies for antibodies. A biochemist by training, he has been involved in the protein chemistry and production of monoclonal antibodies ~30 years, starting with his PhD where he generated monoclonal antibodies (using hybridoma technology) for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. He received a biochemistry degree from Imperial College, London, and his PhD from St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, University of London. He is currently based in the UK.

Robert Alvarez

After completing his degree in molecular biology at the University of Reading, Robert Alvarez has been at Lonza Biologics for 17 years, of which 14 were spent working in the product stability group and 2 as Head of Business Planning and Innovation within Analytical Services (AS). Most recently he has accepted a new role as Site Head of Digital Transformation spearheading Lonza’s digitilisation strategy. Within AS he was a Subject Matter Expert responsible for the design and implementation of forced degradation and formulation studies, directing stability programs for multiple products and establishing standards for stability, as well as supporting stakeholders and customers. As analytical lead for mAb and non‑mAb programs, he has provided technical and advisory support for CMC development of biopharmaceuticals from pre-clinical through to clinical phases, including successful BLA licence applications.

Rhydian Howells

Rhydian Howells, associate director of regulatory affairs at Diamond Pharma services a Propharma group company. 20 years’ experience in the industry, 10 years at a large contract manufacturer developing manufacturing processes and analytical offerings for biological products followed by 10 years in regulatory CMC roles supporting clients with clinical development and marketing authorisation activities for large molecules and advanced therapies.

Mardon McFarlane

Mardon McFarlane currently works as a Director of External Manufacturing for the gene therapy company AAVantgarde Bio. Mardon is a co-founder of a consultancy, Taxo Bioscience, that specialises in supporting pre-clinical and clinical stage biotech companies, by ensuring they make the correct, impactful decisions early in their journey to bring life-changing therapies to patients. Mardon specialises in the CMC aspect of drug discovery and has been involved in notable drug approvals during his 18+ years in the industry. His experience in the biotechnology sector started with biologics but over the last 11 years he has migrated to the cutting-edge sector of cell and gene therapy. Mardon’s career has been focused on the processing aspects of drug manufacture and has spanned process development, technology transfer, scale up and large-scale manufacturing. Mardon holds an MEng in Biochemical Engineering from University College London.

Lekan Daramola

Lekan Daramola is an independent consultant who specialises in supporting biotech companies during the critical early drug development activities, enabling successful preclinical and clinical decisions as they develop new drugs for patients.

Lekan has extensive experience working in the biopharmaceutical industry, with over 26 years contribution to different areas of biologics drug development. Lekan’s experience spans lead drug molecule selection to regulatory submission. His expertise includes molecular biology, mammalian recombinant protein expression technologies, cell line development and early CMC support. In addition, he also has expertise in the development of novel drug modalities like nucleic acid drugs/vaccine (RNA, DNA) as well as AAV (viral vector) production platform development.

Prior to his current role, Lekan was a Senior Director at AstraZeneca, managing mammalian expression activities, the development of nucleic acid and AAV production capabilities to deliver preclinical and clinical drug development goals. Lekan hold a M.Sc. in Medical Microbiology from the University of Surrey.