Ian Birch-MacHin

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT IAN BIRCH-MACHIN

I am an experienced scientific leader in the discovery and early-stage development of cell therapy, protein therapeutics, herbicids and diagnostics in the fields of cancer, autoimmunity, weed control, and infectious diseases. Currently I lead 4 teams focused on high throughput small molecule screening, target identification, target validation and bioinformatics to isolate novel and safe herbicides at MoA Technology. In addition I am a member of the senior leadership team and the alliance manager and chair of the JSC for our Nufarm collaboration.I have led the recruitment and development of groups in both start up and established biotech, set and managed budgets greater than £2.5M and led preclinical projects in the fields of TCR discovery/cell therapy, in vitro display (phage and mammalian display of TCRs, antibodies, peptides and ligands), protein engineering (conventional and phage display), small molecule herbicides and the identification of diagnostic reagents. In addition, I have extensive operational expertise which includes budget/financial planning and monitoring, project leadership and Health and Safety.My current position is Head of Functional Biology at MoA Technology, a company whose focus is to discover and bring to the market, via field trials, safe and effective novel herbicides. Previously, I was working in Discovery Research as Director of the Display Technologies Department at Adaptimmune Ltd, a company whose focus is to transform cancer immunotherapy with affinity enhanced T-cell receptors. I have also commercial expertise gained as Head of Target to Lead at Syntaxin Ltd (working in the fields of neurological, endocrine and proliferative (oncology) disorders; led work which led to the design and initial purification of the first recombinant botulinum neurotoxin to enter clinical trials - SXN102308) and at the Animal Health Trust as a Team Leader where our work led to the introduction of 2 diagnostic tests into the clinic.My expertise is in the areas of protein engineering (including display technologies), anticancer therapy (cell based immunotherapy and large biologics) and diagnostics and herbicides. This includes:Discovery research both operational and strategicEarly development phase of biotherapeutics, Protein Engineering (conventional and phage display), Cell Therapy and HerbicidesTeam to Head of Functional Biology expertise - leadership, building and development skills. Project/alliance leadership and managementBudget setting and management.Environment, Health and Safety.