Mogrify has won the AstraZeneca Life Science Innovation category of the Business Weekly Awards.
The award commends Mogrify in applying its proprietary direct cellular conversion technology to further the cause of life science discovery for the benefit of human healthcare.
Prof. Julian Gough, Co-founder and CSO of Mogrify, received the Cambridge Enterprise Academic Entrepreneur of the Year award in recognition of his work as a life science innovator and Founder of Mogrify.
Mogrify’s proprietary direct cellular conversion technology determines the conversion factors required to convert (ex vivo or in vivo) any target cell type from any source cell type. The Company is deploying this platform to engineer an evergreen and scalable source of cell types that exhibit efficacy and safety profiles necessary to address diseases with a high unmet clinical need, such as in ophthalmological, immunological, haematological, and other disease areas.
Prof Gough is a bioinformatician and biotech entrepreneur who led the development and application of the Mogrify platform, which utilises a systematic big-data approach (Rackham et al., Nature Genetics, 2016) developed over a 10-year period via a multi-national research collaboration. Graduating with a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge, Julian became Professor of Bioinformatics at the University of Bristol and is now Programme Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He has also successfully started a number of biotech companies.
Dr Darrin Disley, CEO, Mogrify, said: “Our team is committed to transforming healthcare for indications of high unmet clinical need. The award for Life Science Innovation attests to the potential of Mogrify’s platform and pioneering team to overcome safety, efficacy and scalability challenges for cell therapies and we are honoured to have this recognised by the judges at this year’s esteemed business awards.
“Gough is an outstanding scientist and entrepreneur who has worked tirelessly to advance Mogrify technology and drive its therapeutic application forward, paving the way for future treatments and inspiring those who work alongside him.”
Gough said: “I am immensely proud to have been named Academic Entrepreneur of the Year and would like to thank my peers who have supported me throughout my career and Mogrify’s talented team for their dedication and hard work in pioneering novel cell therapies.”
