Oliver Sexton

TernaryTx, a pioneering biotech startup, with a revolutionary AI-driven platform for designing molecular glue therapeutics, opening new frontiers in drug discovery for previously "undruggable" targets.

The WHO predicts hearing loss will impact 1 in 10 people by 2050. Medical devices are the standard of care, but they are ineffective for many people. Despite a prevalence greater than cancer or diabetes, there are currently no treatments available to treat the underlying cellular dysfunction which is the root cause of hearing loss. Lipid nanoparticle-based mRNA therapeutics were spectacularly validated as a mass market medicine through the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe the time is now to create the world’s first mass market medicine for hearing loss.

How do you decarbonise an industry which moves across vast oceans for 330 days a year, uses 200Mn tonnes of diesel fuel a year, and requires its fleet to be operational for +30 years? Where fuel needs to be available, cost-effective, and compatible with existing and future technology whilst remaining compliant. It’s a big challenge and a complex one at that! As consumers become increasingly climate aware, it’s no surprise that shipping industry customers are demanding a transition to low-carbon fuels. As it stands, existing suppliers cannot scale. Although shipping and long-haul transportation only contribute around 3% of transportation carbon emissions, they provide a critical service and are the foundations on which global trade exists. As measures are introduced to reduce unnecessary transport carbon missions, the rich and wanderlust may find it an inconvenience if they can no longer travel on a whim - but stop shipping, and food doesn’t reach those that need it the most. Basic human commodities that need to flow, won’t. ~ At HutanBio we believe we have the answer and are on a mission to prove that Mother Nature does indeed hold the answers. 10 years of painstakingly thorough scientific research, long hours, and personal sacrifice. Seven relentless years on a floating lab, battling impossible heat and sea sickness, dredging the sea for samples to get to the point where there is a viable commercial opportunity to scale. Over a Trillion sample colonies scrutinised; whittled down to just 80. It’s a mission fuelled by a powerful belief, a dogged determination to set right the wrongs of humanity, and to show through scientific data that micro-biodiversity holds the key to unlocking the climate crisis. It has resulted in the discovery of a new genus; an entire family of microorganism, new to Science. We call it HBx Our next step is to ‘green’ the desert with our marine microalgal production platform and produce low-cost, carbon-negative biofuel at SCALE.

twig is a bioengineering company using AI to create sustainable ingredients that don’t cost the earth. We’re on a mission to drive a global transition away from unsustainably resourced ingredients to bio-fermented ingredients in a way that benefits everyone – people, producers, and the planet. We’re using AI to radically improve the speed and efficacy of lab-based bioengineering, creating affordable, scalable, and dependable ingredients that producers can use in the everyday items the world relies on – without compromise. We like to call this ‘bioengineering better’. A game-changing, AI-defined approach to bioengineering in which the tech drives the direction of the science. This means no gut instincts, preconceptions, or the pressure to meet short-term service contracts - which have plagued the bioengineering industry for decades - just rapid, incisive data analysis to signpost the best answers to some of the planet’s most pressing sustainability problems.

Next generation programmable cell therapies

Pencil Biosciences is developing a truly innovative gene modulation technology that can have an impact across a range of applications, including new therapeutic options for patients with rare diseases.

SOLASTA Bio is an ambitious bioinsecticides start up with a unique proposition: nature-inspired small molecule insect control products for the global agricultural market. We are a small but passionate and world-leading team - join us!

NanoSyrinx is a cutting-edge synthetic biology company creating the next generation of targeted drug delivery systems to address challenges in the biologic delivery sector.

Antiverse is a Welsh techbio company specialising in antibody design for challenging drug targets, such as GPCRs and ion channels. We exist to create new enabling technologies that bring new therapies to patients to change lives. Headquartered in Cardiff, UK and with offices in Boston, MA, we combine state-of-the-art machine learning techniques and advanced cell line engineering to develop de novo antibody therapeutics.

At Cytox our mission is enable everyone to know their personal risk for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer’s disease today affects over 46 million people globally and this is projected to reach 75 million by 2030 and over 131 million people by 2050. Cytox has developed genoSCORE™ technology that assesses over 100,000 bits of DNA to compute an individual's genetic risk of developing Alzheimer's disease as a single risk score. This technology forms the basis of a Polygenic Risk Score test for Alzheimer's disease that is available in the US and the UK. In the US, the Alzheimer’s Risk Test is available from Sampled SMART Labs (www.Sampled.com), who developed it based on genoSCORE™ technology supplied by Cytox. In the UK, information about the test can be found at www.genoscore-lab.com. The benefits of genetic testing include understanding the importance of taking action to reduce the chance of developing Alzheimer's disease, because AD risk isn’t just about genetics. Lifestyle and environmental factors play a significant role, too. One of the advantages of a personal risk score is that it can provide the motivation to make lifestyle adjustments, although being prepared for the result is an essential requirement for anyone who goes down the testing route.

Zentraxa’s proprietary technological platform, Zentide, combined with our extensive technical know-how allows us to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with synthetic biopolymers. We specialise in the design, production and testing of complex novel peptides and, as a result of our Zentide platform, can circumvent the previously existing bio-design limits of conventional peptide synthesis with one universal process.

We use cutting-edge gene editing techniques to develop healthier, hardier and more sustainable crop varieties that flourish even in the face of climate change so local growing communities can thrive, and we can sustain the world’s food supply.

Nemesis Bioscience is a biopharmaceutical company developing Nemesis Symbiotics© - DNA therapeutics administered before antibiotics to inactivate resistance in bacterial pathogens. These Nemesis Symbiotics© will make existing antibiotics work again, prevent the spread of resistance genes and so also protect the efficacy of new antibiotics. The technology is applicable to all antibiotic classes, all known resistance mechanisms and all bacteria. Other applications include reduction of chemotherapeutic toxicity, inactivation of virulence factors and in vivo synthesis of biofuels and therapeutics. The company was awarded the King’s College, Cambridge Entrepreneurship Award for 2014 and has filed patent applications internationally on its inventions. NEMESIS BIOSCIENCE LTD is a biotechnology company based on th Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, CB22 3AT, UK

Synthace is a digital experiment platform built for high-performance life science R&D teams to help them run more powerful experiments and accelerate scientific progress. It allows biologists to design, plan, and automate experiments in a single place, then automatically gather structured experiment data and metadata in a unified no-code environment.

TernaryTx, a pioneering biotech startup, with a revolutionary AI-driven platform for designing molecular glue therapeutics, opening new frontiers in drug discovery for previously "undruggable" targets.

The WHO predicts hearing loss will impact 1 in 10 people by 2050. Medical devices are the standard of care, but they are ineffective for many people. Despite a prevalence greater than cancer or diabetes, there are currently no treatments available to treat the underlying cellular dysfunction which is the root cause of hearing loss. Lipid nanoparticle-based mRNA therapeutics were spectacularly validated as a mass market medicine through the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe the time is now to create the world’s first mass market medicine for hearing loss.

How do you decarbonise an industry which moves across vast oceans for 330 days a year, uses 200Mn tonnes of diesel fuel a year, and requires its fleet to be operational for +30 years? Where fuel needs to be available, cost-effective, and compatible with existing and future technology whilst remaining compliant. It’s a big challenge and a complex one at that! As consumers become increasingly climate aware, it’s no surprise that shipping industry customers are demanding a transition to low-carbon fuels. As it stands, existing suppliers cannot scale. Although shipping and long-haul transportation only contribute around 3% of transportation carbon emissions, they provide a critical service and are the foundations on which global trade exists. As measures are introduced to reduce unnecessary transport carbon missions, the rich and wanderlust may find it an inconvenience if they can no longer travel on a whim - but stop shipping, and food doesn’t reach those that need it the most. Basic human commodities that need to flow, won’t. ~ At HutanBio we believe we have the answer and are on a mission to prove that Mother Nature does indeed hold the answers. 10 years of painstakingly thorough scientific research, long hours, and personal sacrifice. Seven relentless years on a floating lab, battling impossible heat and sea sickness, dredging the sea for samples to get to the point where there is a viable commercial opportunity to scale. Over a Trillion sample colonies scrutinised; whittled down to just 80. It’s a mission fuelled by a powerful belief, a dogged determination to set right the wrongs of humanity, and to show through scientific data that micro-biodiversity holds the key to unlocking the climate crisis. It has resulted in the discovery of a new genus; an entire family of microorganism, new to Science. We call it HBx Our next step is to ‘green’ the desert with our marine microalgal production platform and produce low-cost, carbon-negative biofuel at SCALE.

twig is a bioengineering company using AI to create sustainable ingredients that don’t cost the earth. We’re on a mission to drive a global transition away from unsustainably resourced ingredients to bio-fermented ingredients in a way that benefits everyone – people, producers, and the planet. We’re using AI to radically improve the speed and efficacy of lab-based bioengineering, creating affordable, scalable, and dependable ingredients that producers can use in the everyday items the world relies on – without compromise. We like to call this ‘bioengineering better’. A game-changing, AI-defined approach to bioengineering in which the tech drives the direction of the science. This means no gut instincts, preconceptions, or the pressure to meet short-term service contracts - which have plagued the bioengineering industry for decades - just rapid, incisive data analysis to signpost the best answers to some of the planet’s most pressing sustainability problems.