DIRECTOR

Mr Luke Southan heads the technology transfer function of Aston University and has a strong background in translational Biology.

Whilst working as a Research Scientist at The Binding Site he was involved in the development of multiple diagnostics found in clinical use. He spent two years at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin before returning to the region in 2018.

Since then whilst working for Aston University he has raised over £20 Million from public and private sources to support translational projects in the bio/med/healthtech sectors.

Alongside his role at Aston he is the COO of Estuar Pharmaceuticals, a preclinical stage drug development company, and the Director of SPARK UK, the first UK branch of the globally run Stanford preclinical accelerator model.

REGULATORY AFFAIRS STRATEGIST

Dr. Randhir Tindal holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and has over twenty years of experience in the medical device industry across the full cycle of product development. The majority of this time has been as the Regulatory and Quality lead for startups in the Oxford MedTech ecosystem.

Dr. Tindal has been involved with medical devices that include; active, implantable, sterile, Class IIa, Class IIb, Class 3, sensing (ultrasound, fluorescence spectroscopy and laser doppler spectroscopy), polymeric particles, silicone-based hydrogels and software as a medical device.

Dr. Tindal has also been responsible for both 510k and de-novo regulatory submissions to the FDA in the United States.

Randhir is now employed by Aston University to lead on Regulatory Affairs support for groups that are on the new pre-clinical accelerator programme SPARK The Midlands.

SPARK THE MIDLANDS PROJECT MANAGER

Miss Chynna Pascual has a background in clinical trials, and a BSc in Pharmacology and Physiology and an MSc in Drug Discovery and Development from University College London.

Prior to this role, she was a Clinical Trials Manager for the Cancer and Haematology Academic Research Team at Imperial College London, supporting the development and oversight of phase 1-3 oncology clinical trials. Studies that she has been a part of include, LANTana, in collaboration with Astex Pharmaceuticals and Novartis/AAA and STARKAP funded by GlaxoSmithKline. She also has experience in delivering trials, working for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in providing surgical, therapeutic and qualitative gynaecology and upper gastrointestinal, national and international studies to cancer patients. She was a key member of the principal phase 1 trials team at Hammersmith Hospital.