Microbiotica, the spin-out company from the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Sanger Institute), is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr John Shields as a non-executive director representing the Sanger Institute.

Dr Shields has extensive operational and investment experience in the biotechnology sector and is currently a member of the Sanger Institute Translation Committee, the Crick Institute Translation Advisory Group and the Medical Research Council’s Translational Research Group. He serves on a number of biotechnology company boards and is an adviser to several venture capital groups. Previously, he was an adviser to Abingworth Management, the life-sciences focused venture capital group, and has also worked in the pharma and biotech industry, initially at Glaxo and then as SVP Research for Cantab Pharmaceuticals.

Mike Romanos, Chief Executive Officer of Microbiotica, commented: “We are delighted to welcome John to Microbiotica’s Board. His experience in the translation of innovative science will bring invaluable insights to the company as we work to commercialise ground-breaking research into the role of the human microbiome in health and disease, and its application to medicine. His appointment is a welcome and tangible demonstration of our ongoing close link with the Sanger Institute, and I am sure he will make an immediate and important contribution to the team.”

Dr Shields commented: “Microbiotica is an immensely interesting organisation with, I believe, significant potential to apply its understanding of the role of human gut microbiome in health and disease to develop bacteriotherapies. I am looking forward to helping the team realise the enormous opportunity which is emerging from our increased knowledge of the role of the microbiome and to offering a new approach for treating diseases for which conventional treatments have been inadequate.”

Dr Shields joins existing Microbiotica Board members Mike Romanos, CEO, and Trevor Lawley, Chief Scientific Officer, along with Sam Williams, Head of Biotech at IP Group plc, and Robert Tansley, Investment Director at Cambridge Innovation Capital plc.

For more information, please contact:

Rowena Gardner, Head of Operations, Microbiotica +44 (0) 1223 786063, rgardner@microbiotica.com

Dr Samantha Wynne, Media Officer, Sanger Institute +44 (0) 1223 492368, press.office@sanger.ac.uk

About Microbiotica

• Microbiotica was established in 2016 to develop and commercialise ground-breaking research into the role of the human microbiome in health and disease and its application to medicine conducted in the Host-Microbiot ica Interactions Laboratory (“HMIL”) at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
• Microbiotica’s founders are Mike Romanos, Trevor Lawley and Gordon Dougan, FRS.
• CIC and IP Group are co-investors in Microbiotica, with a £4m contribution from each party to provide total initial funding of £8m.
• Microbiotica is based at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridge, UK, with offices in the Biodata Innovation Centre and laboratories in the Sanger Institute.
• www.microbiotica.com