scientific advisors

Jane Osbourn

Dr Jane K Osbourn OBE FMed Sci

Jane is Chief Scientific Officer at Alchemab Therapeutics, which focusses on identifying self-protective antibodies as therapies for neurodegeneration and oncology. She has worked in antibody drug discovery for over 25 years and was an early employee of Cambridge Antibody Technology, which became MedImmune, the biologics arm of AstraZeneca. There she contributed to the development of phage display technology, authored many key publications and patents and contributed to the discovery and development of eight marketed biologics drugs. She is passionate about the development of the biotechnology sector and served as Chair of the UK BioIndustry Association from 2015-2019. In 2019 she was awarded an OBE for services to drug discovery, development and biotechnology, and was the first female recipient of the Scrip Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the pharma industry.

Gavin Screaton

Prof. Gavin Screaton

Professor Screaton received his first degree from Cambridge in 1984 before moving to Oxford to complete his medical studies in 1987.  He then completed training in general internal medicine and obtained a DPhil from Oxford University in 1998.  In 2004, Professor Screaton was appointed to the Chair of Medicine at Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College and became Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 2015  He returned to Oxford as Head of the Medical Sciences Division in October 2017. 

His research, which has been supported by a series of Fellowships awarded by the MRC and Wellcome Trust, has covered a variety of topics from control of RNA processing and apoptosis to immunology. The current interests of his laboratory revolve around the immunology of infectious diseases with a special interest in dengue haemorrhagic fever and Zika, where his research is currently funded by the Wellcome Trust, with active research collaborations in South-East Asia.  His laboratory has recently contributed to knowledge of the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2

Professor Screaton is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and was made a Founder Senior Investigator in the National Institute for Health Research.  He is a Non-Executive Director of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.