Marianne is an associate molecular biologist at Epitopea, with previous experience in reagent production and quality assurance.

She received her undergraduate biomedical degree and Master’s by Research at Lancaster University.

Abigail Alford is a Senior Molecular Biologist in the Vaccine Technology Team at Epitopea Ltd. She spent 1.5 years engineering phage for anti-infective use at Phico Therapeutics before moving her career to mRNA vaccine design at Epitopea.

Abigail received her PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the University of East Anglia, UK researching the rapid synthetic production of anti-infectives using heterologous host systems in Actinomycetes at the John Innes Institute.

Her main focus is on leveraging synthetic biology and genetic design for the betterment of human health.

Eric is a Senior Computational Biologist at Epitopea, focused on enhancing analyses to identify optimal aberrantly expressed tumor-specific antigen (aeTSA) candidates.

He brings over 15 years of experience analyzing tumor data across multiple omics layers, including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics.

With a background in mathematics and computer science, he transitioned into bioinformatics during his PhD in Toulouse and postdoctoral research at McGill.

He is driven by the potential of data to unlock new frontiers in cancer immunotherapy.

Cynthia Bernier is a Senior Scientist at Epitopea, with years of experience in oncology research. She brings deep expertise in functional genomics and immunotherapy, with a strong track record of advancing precision therapies from target discovery to IND-enabling studies.

She has held senior scientific and leadership roles in the biopharmaceutical industry, contributing to the clinical advancement of small-molecule and biologic candidates, and supporting key partnerships and licensing deals.

Cynthia holds a Master’s degree in Pharmacology from the Université de Sherbrooke and is recognized for her scientific insight, operational rigor, and collaborative leadership.

Lili leads the bioinformatics team in Montreal, developing computational strategies to identify and prioritize tumor-specific antigens for cancer vaccines.

She brings expertise in (epi)genomics and ML-driven bioinformatics, and is passionate about translating complex data into actionable insights.

Lili studied Chemistry at Imperial College London and earned a fully funded PhD in cancer epigenomics from the Francis Crick Institute and UCL.

Following a brief postdoctoral position, she joined a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing T cell therapies targeting clonal neoantigens. 

Born in Montreal, she spent 15 years in the UK before returning home—bringing a uniquely transatlantic perspective to Epitopea’s UK–Canada team.

Ettie is a placement student from the University of Bath and supports the vaccine technology team and immunology team. Ettie’s role will advance her laboratory techniques and research skills, as well as, aiding both teams in their important research.

Ettie is partway through an MBiochem and is aspiring to specialise further through a PhD in cancer treatments.

Mrinmayi is an Associate Immunologist on the Immunology Team at Epitopea.

She holds an MSc in Cancer Immunology and Biotechnology from the University of Nottingham, where her research project focused on MHC-II expression in colorectal cancer.

Prior to that, she earned her BSc in Biotechnology from Fergusson College, Pune, India.

Driven by a passion for novel cancer diagnostics and immunotherapies, she is committed to making cancer treatments globally accessible, effective, and durable.

Elvire is an Associate Molecular Biologist at Epitopea working with the Vaccine Technology team. Prior to joining the company, she performed research at the University of Cambridge receiving an MPhil in Genetics.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Warwick.

She is very eager to contribute to Epitopea’s development of cancer immunotherapies and truly make a difference for patients.

Klaus is an accomplished oncology innovator and development leader with extensive experience and expertise in leading oncology drug development, with a proven track record of leading innovative therapies from concept to regulatory approval.

His previous roles include Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Nykode Therapeutics. Before Nykode he was CDO and CMO at Curevac, and Senior Vice President and Head of Global Oncology Development at Merck KgaA, where he was accountable for all aspects of early and late-stage development in oncology. Prior to these roles, he served as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Medicines Development Oncology at AstraZeneca and has held senior oncology-focused positions at GSK, Genmab and Aventis (Sanofi).

Klaus holds an M.D. degree as well as a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Copenhagen. His academic career includes being a Professor in Experimental Cancer Research at Lund University, Sweden, and a Professor in Cell Biology at the University of Bergen, Norway.

Sophie leads the Immunology Team at Epitopea. She has broad experience in the biotechnology sector across multiple indications and modalities, having previously worked at Kymab, F-star Therapeutics, bit.bio, and Mission Therapeutics.

She received her PhD in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Cambridge while studying immune cell contributions to surgically stimulated cartilage repair.

Sophie aims to contribute to a world where therapeutic advances render a cancer diagnosis no more than an inconvenience.

After a Master's degree in cellular physiology and immunology, Celine worked on various projects studying the regulation of immune cells by TGFbeta, T Cell Receptor (TCR) signalling, and the role of ILC2 in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

Her two decades of experience in T cell immunology allows her to bring robust research experience and a track record of innovative solutions to test the ability of different cancer mRNA vaccine candidates to activate the immune system.

She aspires to leverage her expertise to contribute to the development of new therapeutics and improve patient lives.

Raffaella is a Senior Immunologist at Epitopea. She has 10 years of industry experience working in immunotherapeutic biotech companies, helping develop TCRs and bispecific antibody molecules. She contributed across various stages of therapeutic development, from discovery through translational research, with hands-on expertise in functional assays and immune profiling. She obtained her Master of Science degree at the University of Palermo, where she built a strong background in Medical Biotechnology. She deeply enjoys learning and advancing therapeutic drugs to improve cancer patient outcomes.

Sophie brings over a decade of experience in the early development of T-cell based therapeutics, gained across several oncology-focused biotech companies.

Following her involvement in the improvement of soluble TCRs and CAR-Ts, she believes that off-the shelf cancer vaccines represent the next frontier in the oncologic armamentarium.

With a strong foundation in immunology, she has transitioned into a strategic role focused on fast-tracking the development of cancer vaccines.  

Driven by a commitment to seamlessly translate Epitopea’s research into clinical application, Sophie leads cross-functional efforts across clinical, regulatory, pre-clinical, and CMC. Sophie holds a PhD from University College London.

Joa is a computational biologist with eight years of experience investigating the dark genome, specializing in the intersection of molecular and computational biology.

Originally from Canada, she previously worked at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where she studied the noncoding transcriptomes of malaria parasites.

She holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an Honours Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University.

Michael is an internationally recognized expert in T cell therapy and immunotherapy. Over his 28-year career, he has co-authored over 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, and holds 26 issued patents in the fields of cell therapy, immunotherapy, and vaccines.

Michael is a member of several Corporate and Scientific Advisory Boards for both public and private biopharmaceutical companies and is currently Founder and Managing Director at Next Pillar Consulting. Michael also serves as Senior Venture Partner and Head of Cell Therapy for Orange Grove Bio. In addition to his board and SAB responsibilities, Michael actively serves as an advisory member for international immunotherapy consortia and societies.

Previous C-suite and executive roles include positions at cTRL-Therapeutics, ArsenalBio, Janssen, and Eli Lilly and Company. During Michael’s tenure in biopharma he established and led internal programs on cancer vaccines targeting “dark matter”.

During his academic career, Michael founded and directed translational research laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania and City of Hope. At UPenn his lab developed many of the operational principles that have supported the translational understanding of cell and immune- based therapies, and he is a co-inventor of the key technologies that led to the approval of Kymriah by Novartis. He holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota and completed post-doctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Bryan has over 20 years of international accounting and tax experience working with organizations in a wide variety of industries including professional services, manufacturing, and resource development in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Prior to joining Epitopea, Bryan spent 3 years as the Acting Controller of enGene. He started his career with 10 years in the oil & gas sector working in both Canada and the United Kingdom.

Bryan holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.

Jade Kerri-Dibb brings over 16 years’ experience in leading Business Operations in Cambridge Biotechnology startup and scale up environments.

Throughout her career, she has acquired extensive experience managing large Laboratory and Facilities Operations, building projects, Human Resources, Corporate Operations, and Health, Wellbeing and Safety.

Prior to her role with Epitopea, she was Chief Operations Officer at Pysomics and Director of Operations at Horizon Discovery, Cambridge.

She is passionate about good mental health and creative health activities, and is a volunteer with local charities. She is about to commence her PhD journey in Cambridge within Health and Wellbeing research.

Rachael Kimber is a dedicated Immunologist with over six years of industry experience specializing in the development of cancer therapeutics.

She recently received her PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Cambridge in association with the Babraham Institute, furthering her expertise in Immunology and RNA biology.

Steven brings over 20 years of business development experience in industry and non-profit organisations across a variety of fields, including oncology, vaccines, and CNS-related indications.

Steven previously held several business development leadership roles, where he successfully negotiated numerous strategic transactions and managed alliances with a wide range of biopharmaceutical companies, including BMS, Ipsen, Abbvie, Merck, Pfizer, Roche, Nippon Shinyaku, Grunenthal, AstraZeneca, Domain Therapeutics, and Medigene.

Steven holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine from McGill University, and an MBA from Queen’s University.

Natalie is a bilingual, seasoned executive administrator supporting CEO Alan Rigby and the Executive Leadership Team of Epitopea. Natalie graduated from McGill University with a degree in Education.

She has 30+ years of administrative experience focused on leadership administration, procurement, communications, and event planning.

Natalie joined Epitopea following 7 years at Repare Therapeutics, managing office operations, responsible for key corporate events, and prior to this, spent 16 years at Avon Canada in PR, finance, and event planning.

During her career, she has refined her administrative acumen through the requisite cross-functional support necessary to drive key strategic initiatives.

Karen leads Epitopea’s Vaccine Technology team, driving the design and optimisation of RNA-based cancer immunotherapies, including the establishment of the company’s RNA vaccine pipeline from the ground up.

This platform has enabled the accelerated progression of Epitopea’s first cancer vaccine candidate towards the clinic. She brings over 10 years of hands-on experience in RNA biology and vaccine development, with prior roles at VaxEquity and Imperial College London, where she developed high throughput cloning strategies, optimised large-scale in vitro transcription and QC of RNA vaccines.

She is driven by a passion to translate cutting-edge science to advance the delivery of impactful therapeutic solutions that improve patient outcomes.

Mayuran is the Laboratory Manager at Epitopea, where he oversees daily operations and ensures the operational excellence of lab facilities.

He has previously held key roles at CoSyne Therapeutics, LabGenius, and GammaDelta, driving improvements in procurement, compliance, and lab expansion. Mayuran holds an MRes in Biomedicine and BSc in Biomedical Science from UCL and UoR.

He is passionate about creating sustainable lab environments and mentoring future scientists, with a strong personal commitment to improving science accessibility through community tutoring and international charitable initiatives.

Paulo Miguel is a Computational Biology Intern at Epitopea. He has previously worked in software consulting, having spent over 5 years at Munvo providing data engineering services to his clients, prior to making a career change into bioinformatics.

Paulo received his B.A.Sc. in Nanotechnology Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is currently pursuing his M.Sc. in Bioinformatics from Northeastern University.

Charlotte brings over a decade of experience in cancer therapeutics. She currently serves as the immunology lead for a preclinical vaccine development program and will play a key role in translational science as the company advances toward its first clinical study in 2026.

Charlotte holds a PhD in cancer biology from the Institute of Cancer Research and has contributed to the field of cancer immunology through her postdoctoral research at King’s College London.

Before joining Epitopea, she worked at Achilles Therapeutics, where she focused on the development of T cell therapies.

Armin supports and leads discovery workflows in collaboration with the broader team. He holds a Master’s in Biochemistry from McGill University, and obtained his B.Sc. from University of Minnesota.

Outside of work, he’s passionate about learning new languages, exploring the national parks of Canada and exploring different cuisines from around the world.

Jon is a biochemist and cell biologist with 22 years of scientific leadership experience in industry, primarily in oncology. He is an Operating Partner at Advent Life Sciences where he co-founded both Epitopea and the remyelination start-up Pheno Therapeutics, serving both companies as their first CEO.

Prior to joining Advent, Jon was CSO of gene editing tools and services company, Horizon Discovery, and Head of Biology at Vernalis Research. At both organisations his focus was on leading drug discovery projects, early-stage discovery collaborations and in and out-licensing key technologies.

Jon also has extensive postdoctoral experience working with Tim Hunt at Cancer Research UK and Sally Kornbluth at Duke University. He holds a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Dr. Samuel Myers is Senior Molecular Biologist within Epitopea’s vaccine technology team. He received his PhD in Stem Cell Biology and Medicine from the University of Cambridge where he studied human naive pluripotency.

Since obtaining his doctorate, Samuel’s focus has been early-stage drug discovery and technology development.

This has led him to build tools and assays that have been applied to a range of cancer and degenerative disease programs during his time at Horizon Discovery, Mogrify and Epitopea.

Theres is an immunologist with 20 years of experience in industry and academia across a variety of fields, including cell therapy, oncology, and allergies.

Prior to joining Epitopea, Theres held the position of Head of Translational Science – Product Characterisation at Achilles Therapeutics. Under her leadership the Product Characterisation team ran a wide range of immunological assays to characterize phenotypic and functional properties of First in Human autologous T cell products. As one of the first members of Achilles Therapeutics, she played an integral part in developing autologous T cell therapies targeting clonal neo-antigen specific cancer mutations.

Prior to joining Achilles, Theres spent over 10 years at the Department of Immunology at UCL, where her studies focused on understanding the T cell receptor repertoire in a variety of diseases.

Theres holds a PhD in Immunology from University College London (UCL).

Trained as a hematologist and an immunogeneticist, Claude has been a Principal Investigator at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of Université de Montréal since 2005 and is in charge of its immunobiology research laboratory.

He is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal and was a practicing clinician until 2018, at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, where he created the histocompatibility laboratory and founded the bone marrow transplant unit.

Member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Claude has received the Acfas Léo-Pariseau prize (2011), the Michel-Sarrazin Award (2015) of the Club de recherches cliniques du Québec and the Bernhard Cinader Award of the Canadian Society for Immunology (2017).

Gertrud will drive the building of the development operations team, establishing and overseeing the operational setup and execution of Epitopea-sponsored clinical trials, according to current guidelines and requirements.

She brings over 20 years of experience in clinical operations and development across biotech and pharma, including leadership roles at Nykode Therapeutics, Zealand Pharma, and Takeda.

Gertrud has directed clinical trials from Phase 1 through 4 in multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, rare diseases, and metabolic disorders. She holds an MSc in Pharmacy from the University of Copenhagen and a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the University of Basel.

Gertrud is passionate about operational excellence and advancing innovative therapies through well-executed clinical trials.

Alan is an experienced, oncology focused, biotech founder, entrepreneur and innovative leader focused on company ideation and strategic growth through capital raises, non-dilutive collaborative partnerships and value enhancing asset acquisitions. A mission ‘driven’, patient-centric leader with an unwavering commitment to build, focus and accelerate the advancement of innovative first-in-human, first-in-class therapies that impact patients’ lives.

As an oncology innovator Alan co-founded and served as President and CEO of HiberCell, a company focused on leveraging multi-omic data to target the stress response pathways of dormant disseminated tumor cells with a goal of preventing cancer relapse. Under his leadership, HiberCell launched in 2019 with a $61 million USD, Series A and ultimately raised more than $250M USD. Prior to co-founding HiberCell, Alan held C-suite executive roles at Warp Drive Bio, Inc., Synta Pharmaceuticals, and was a Vice President of Oncology at Eli Lilly and Company, where he advanced several drug discovery and development programs.

Prior to his career in biopharma and biotechnology, Alan served as an Assistant Professor and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, with a focus on computational drug discovery and target validation. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Canada’s Western University.

Amanda is a registered patent and trade mark attorney with over two decades of IP, licensing and innovation management experience.

Amanda previously held several leadership IP and licensing roles at Horizon Discovery and Dharmacon (now Revvity), Sanofi and in technology transfer at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Amanda holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford and a Master’s in IP Law from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Lisa has 20 years drug discovery research experience in oncology and neurodegeneration.  Prior to Epitopea, she was a Director of Drug Discovery at BenevolentAI and also spent more than 10 years with Mission Therapeutics, where she was a team leader responsible for developing screening capabilities to deliver drug candidates up to the pre-clinical stage. 

Before this, Lisa was a Senior Scientist at KuDOS Pharmaceuticals.  Lisa earned her PhD from the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Pierre began his career with the National Research Council of Canada as a protein chemistry Investigator. Between 2001 and 2004, he operated the Protein Analysis Department at Caprion Pharmaceuticals.

He then joined the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of Université de Montréal where he operates the Proteomics Research Unit and the Center for Advanced Proteomics and Chemogenomics Analyses (CAPCA).

Pierre is also a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and an Accredited Member of the Department of Biochemistry of the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montréal.

Driving the growth of the Oncology Development team, including strategic medical oversight, Siri brings over 20 years of leadership and clinical development expertise, having held senior positions at Nykode Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, and Novartis.

As a board-certified oncology specialist, Siri has deep experience in oncology and immuno-oncology clinical development and medical strategy, spanning early to late-phase trials. She has also contributed to infectious disease development programs and autoimmune preclinical development.

Siri is passionate about translating scientific innovation into meaningful clinical outcomes and building high-performing development teams focused on patient impact.

Krystel is the Director of R&D at Epitopea Montreal, overseeing scientific strategy and development. Prior to this, she spent six years in academia as a Lead Scientific Advisor, working at the interface of immunology and bioinformatics.

She completed her PhD in Molecular Biology in 2018, on a project that laid the scientific groundwork for Epitopea’s foundation. Krystel is highly motivated by the opportunity to translate cutting-edge research into real-world therapeutic impact.

Liz oversees day-to-day Montreal R&D operations at Epitopea, while also managing logistical planning to support long-term site strategy.

Prior to joining Epitopea, she served as Discovery Operations Manager at Repare Therapeutics.

She holds a Master of Public Health from the École des hautes études en santé publique in Paris, France.