Professor Colin McGuckin, Founding Director.Chairman, Chief Scientific Officer
TIMELINE:
1988-1991: PhD (DPhil) leukaemia research in Northern Ireland and USA. 1991: moved to St George’s Hospital Medical School (London) Dept. Haematology as Postdoctoral Scientist working on Chronic Anaemia’s & Stem Cell Disorders and clinical trials. 1996: became Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences at Kingston University. 1999: founded and became Director of the Stem Cell Therapy Laboratory (on site at St George’s Hospital) specialising in Stem Cell Research and regenerative medicine. 2001: promoted to Associate Professor. 2004-2005: Sabbatical period working with Rice University Texas, University of Texas Medical Branch and NASA Houston Space Center on 3-dimensional models of human tissues for human therapy. 2005-2008: was appointed the UK’s first Full Professor of Regenerative Medicine (Newcastle University), leading clinical research in adult stem cells through to patients at the Centre for Cord Blood and North East England Stem Cell Institute. 2008: co-founded the Novus Sanguis charitable consortium (Paris) for “Responsible Regenerative Medicine”, providing grant funding internationally in adult stem cells. 2009: became President of the Institut de Recherche en Thérapie Cellulaire (non-profit research, Lyon France). 2009 founded the CTI BIOTECH company with Dr Forraz. 2012: became Director of the Adult Stem Cell Foundation of Ireland (charity).
KEY WORK:
The McGuckin group were first in the world to characterize and produce embryonic-like stem cells from a non-embryonic source – Umbilical Cord Blood. (McGuckin et al, Cell Proliferation, 38, 245-255, 2005). They are also first to make artificial liver, nervous, pancreatic and a range of other tissues from Umbilical Cord, Cord Blood, Bone Marrow and Adipose related stem cells. Pr McGuckin is on the editorial board of international journals, international reviewer [Eg. European Commission], and advisor to several medical and science organisations. He has been invited to speak internationally, including European Parliament, Bundestag German Parliament, Austrian Parliament, French Senate, the Vatican, Rome, and the US Senate on Capitol Hill. His group are currently pioneering preclinical research for children with Cerebral Palsy and Cleft Palate birth disorders and have a speciality in developing technologies from Cancer Stem Cells. Professor McGuckin also has an interest in radiation and environmental linked cancer, having been a volunteer on a European Community funded programme to aid in the post-Chernobyl disaster radiation fallout, which included work in the country Belarus where an estimated 60% of radiation fell and >4000 radiation cancer deaths occurred.
We aim to bring stem cell and cancer therapies to all sections of the world’s community without geoeconomical boundaries
Dr Nico Forraz, Founding DirectorCEO
TIMELINE:
1998: Part-time lecturer, Cape Sup University, Clermont-Ferrand, France. 1999: Part-time lecturer, Kingston University London (UK) and St George’s Hospital Medical School (UK). 2000-2003: PhD under the supervision of Professor McGuckin at Kingston University London and St George’s Hospital Medical School in adult stem cells preclinical research. 2003: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, St George’s Hospital Medical School, working on HOX related transcription factors, stem cells and cancer. 2004: moved to Kingston University London as Senior Researcher in Stem Cell Therapy. 2004-2005: Sabbatical period working with Rice University Texas, University of Texas Medical Branch and NASA Houston Space Center on 3-dimensional models of human tissues for human therapy. 2005-2008: became Senior Research Associate and Business Manager, Centre for Cord Blood, North East England Stem Cell Institute, Newcastle University, UK. 2006: set up and became Director of Conoworld Ltd (UK) developing Stem Cell Technology, winner of the BluePrint Business Competition 2006 and the Creative Pioneering Program of NESTA, UK. 2007: Manager, R&D NovusSanguis charitable consortium. 2009: became Senior Partner, ConoPartners LLP (UK). 2009: set up CTI BIOTECH (France) with Professor McGuckin. 2010: became Vice President, Institut de Recherche en Thérapie Cellulaire (non-profit research, Lyon France).
KEY WORK:
Having been part of the McGuckin research group since 2000, Dr Forraz has extensive stem cells, regenerative medicine and cell manipulation experience and was part of the team who created the world’s first artificial hepatic-like liver tissue and neural cells from human umbilical cord blood. With a particular interest in cross-developing clinical research for business-generating technologies, Dr Forraz has extensive experience in negotiation, business creation and operations. Dr Forraz has spear-headed the 43 Million Euro consortium generation of the IMODI Cancer project, the largest cancer research project of France.
Ethical research applied to human health to create a strong and sustainable business platform in Europe
Mr Mathieu LacroixLaboratory Manager: Biobanking
Mathieu graduated from the ESTBB Universite Catholique de Lyon, with expertise in Biobanking 2015. Originally an intern placement student with CTIBIOTECH Mathieu joined the permanent team upon graduation.