OUR CAPABILITIES 

Professor Macdonald brings his valuable experience in clinical medicine and basic biomedical science. He spent 28 years in academic nephrology before moving into the pharmaceutical industry with Merck Sharp and Dohme (Australia). Since his retirement in 2007, Professor Macdonald has been engaged in biotechnology consulting projects and has been Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Australian Stem Cell Centre, Chairman of Vectus Biosciences Limited and non-executive Deputy Chairman of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia. In June 2012, Professor Macdonald received an Australian Queen’s Birthday Honour in the General Division of the Order of Australia for ‘service to the biomedical research in the areas of hypertension and renal disease, to medical education, to the promotion and awareness raising of organ donation, and as a mentor’.

Stephen has a wealth of expertise in accountancy and Board corporate governance. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Stephen has held positions as Company Secretary or Chief Financial Officer of various start-up technology and public companies and major chartered accountancy firms both in Australia and the UK.

Prof Susie Nilsson is the Research Director for the Biomedical Manufacturing program with CSIRO (the Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation), Australia’s National Science Agency. Her portfolio encompasses the production of new products and processes for the biomedical sector – medical devices, diagnostics, drugs, vaccines, and efficient processes to produce them. This covers regulated biomanufacturing, biologics research and development, chemical biology, diagnostics and devices and bioactive small molecules and polymers.

Susie has an extensive history in biologics and specifically haematopoietic stem cell research. She completed her PhD at Melbourne University and post-doctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts prior to taking up a position at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute then the Australian Stem Cell Centre. She moved to CSIRO in 2009 and was appointed as an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. She became a group leader at the Australian Regenerative Medical Institute, Monash University in 2013 and a CSIRO Science Leader in 2014. Her current role sees broad contributions including overseeing the production of biologics for Phase I clinical trials, exemplified by the production of two COVID-19 vaccine candidates, the building of the new National Vaccine and Therapeutics Laboratory for producing products in mammalian and insect systems for Phase I and II/III clinical trials as well as the growth of interactions with industry in key areas or of the biomedical sector. Recently she was awarded the 2023 BioMelbourne Network Inspiring Women’s Leadership Award.

Associate Professor Ngaire Elwood AM PhD is the Director of the BMDI Cord Blood Bank in Melbourne, a TGA-licensed, FACT-accredited GMP cell manufacturing facility, and is a member of the TGA Advisory Committee on Biologicals. Ngaire also heads the Cord Blood Advanced Therapies Research Laboratory in the Stem Cell Medicine Theme at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She is passionate about exploiting the full therapeutic potential of cord blood, creating Australia’s first GMP-compliant iPSC Master Cell Bank from cord blood, and is a collaborator on several clinical trials using cord blood for regenerative therapies. Ngaire holds a diverse Board portfolio, including board member of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia. Ngaire was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in October 2022 and was made a Member of the Order of Australia AM in the 2024 Australia Day Honours awards for significant service to medicine, particularly through stem cell research.

James completed a Bachelor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, a PhD in Biotechnology at the University of Queensland followed by a postdoc in Goettingen, Germany. Subsequently, he ran a lab together with Enzo Porrello at UQ, before relocating to QIMR Berghofer. James’ lab has brought together engineering and cell biology disciplines to develop human cardiac organoid screening platforms. He is now generating a ‘Cardiopedia’ aiming to provide a comprehensive map of the molecular processes governing cardiac function. From this basic biology his lab is working on translation of some key therapeutic candidates for heart failure and precisely targeting those to the patients that will benefit most. James regularly publishes in top journals in his field and is an inaugural recipient of the Snow Medical Fellowship in 2021.