John joined Bicycle Therapeutics as CEO on formation of the company, prior to this he was Vice President and Head of Discovery Biology for the GSK Biopharm CEDD in which capacity he established the current GSK monoclonal antibody programme and was responsible for all biology support for biopharm discovery and development programmes from target to proof of concept
John graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Zoology from University College London before completing a PhD in Immunology at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. After post-doctoral training at Yale University Medical School, John returned to the United Kingdom to take up the position of research scientist at the Wellcome Foundation working on the development of the first humanised therapeutic antibody–CAMPATH-1H. He has been involved in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies and vaccines since that time and played a key role in the establishment of GSK’s Biopharm CEDD. He also led the strategic alliance with PowderJect on DNA vaccines and was the Chairman of the Board for the Edward Jenner Institute for Vaccine Research. John is a frequent contributor to MRC and CR-UK review panels and is currently a member of the MRC-Technology Scientific Advisory Board.