Meet the team

Dr Natalia Mateu

Natalia is an organic and medicinal chemist leading the development of the PharmEnable scientific portfolio. Her strong chemistry background, with a particular focus on diversity generating methodologies, has shaped the scientific methods that form the foundation of PharmEnable’s unique offering. She brings over 14 years of organic and medicinal chemistry research within the pharmaceutical sector and academia, from the University of Cambridge and Janssen/J&J. She has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Valencia.

Dr Hannah Sore

A medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is recognised for championing innovative methods for discovering much needed new drugs. Hannah is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what is possible with small molecule therapeutics and breaking down the barriers of inaccessibility; for the patient, the target and the drug. At PharmEnable Therapeutics we are leading the charge by Accessing the Inaccessible.

Hannah brings over 25 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge, including 10 years consulting and business experience across healthcare sectors at Frost & Sullivan and HFS Scientific Ltd. During her time at Astex Therapeutics, she is delighted to have contributed to the discovery stage of TruqapTM (capivasertib), a small molecule therapeutic used in combination with Faslodexâ, which was approved by the FDA in November 2023 for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Hannah completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.

Dr David Vidal

David is a chemist by background, with over 20 years of experience in molecular modeling and computational drug discovery. At PharmEnable, he is leading the CADD team, responsible for the development of our chemSEEK(TM) platform, and member of the leadership team. In his previous role at Mind the Byte, he led the R&D department; a multidisciplinary team of scientists and software engineers developing new modelling technologies for in silico drug discovery. He completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Barcelona.

Dr Keith Blundy

Keith joins PharmEnable as the Investor Director from Cambridge Enterprise. He has experience in drug discovery, strategy and licensing as well as extensive venture capital fund raising experience gained as CEO of both Cancer Research Technology (CRT – CRUK’s world leading cancer technology commercialisation company) and a pioneering biotech start-up (Storm Therapeutics Ltd). He was formerly a director of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Mission Therapeutics, Cancer Therapeutics Pty and Inivata Ltd. Keith has a BSc and PhD in genetics and an MBA from the London Business School.

Dr Jane Dancer

A highly experienced CBO, Jane brings a wealth of knowledge about business development and driving company growth. As the PharmEnable company Chair, she has an active role in advising on business strategy and governance processes. Her past roles include Chief Business Officer at F-star, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Prior to this, she was Vice President of Business Development at Cellzome Ltd and Director of Business Development at Cambridge AntibodyTechnology, later acquired by AstraZeneca. She holds an MA and Ph.D. in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from The Cambridge Judge Business School.

David Ford

David is an Oxford-based life sciences angel investor and member of Cambridge Angels. He is Chair of VisusNano, and also has NED positions with ViaNautis Bio and Cognitant Group. In addition, he is a Director of Foresight VCT plc. Having started his career as a biotech research analyst he has almost 30 years of global asset management experience across a range of public and private asset classes. David is an M.Biochem from the University of Oxford.

Jeffrey Moore

Jeff is President of MP Healthcare Venture Management (MPH), a Boston-based biotech venture capital firm affiliated with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation. He has been working in the biotech sector for 25 years, both as an investor and in operating roles at Millennium Therapeutics and Scriptgen. Jeff has a DPhil in Pathology from Oxford, an MBA from MIT, postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School, and was a participant in the Kauffman Fellows VC program.

Dr Hannah Sore

A medicinal chemist by training, Hannah is recognised for championing innovative methods for discovering much needed new drugs. Hannah is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what is possible with small molecule therapeutics and breaking down the barriers of inaccessibility; for the patient, the target and the drug. At PharmEnable Therapeutics we are leading the charge by Accessing the Inaccessible.

Hannah brings over 25 years of research expertise within the life sciences and drug discovery sector at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Astex Therapeutics and at the University of Cambridge, including 10 years consulting and business experience across healthcare sectors at Frost & Sullivan and HFS Scientific Ltd. During her time at Astex Therapeutics, she is delighted to have contributed to the discovery stage of TruqapTM (capivasertib), a small molecule therapeutic used in combination with Faslodexâ, which was approved by the FDA in November 2023 for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Hannah completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in Organic Chemistry and has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and is an inventor on 13 patents.

Prof Ian Collins

Ian Collins is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He brings more than thirty years’ research experience and a track record of delivering leads and candidates in oncology and CNS disease. Following a PhD at Cambridge University and an early medicinal chemistry career at The Neuroscience Research Centre of MSD, he moved to establish a medicinal chemistry team at the Cancer Therapeutics Unit of the ICR. He was a Scientific Co-founder of the protein degrader company Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc., and since 2022 has pursued his career as an independent scientific consultant.

Dr Andreas Bender

Dr Andreas Bender is a Professor for Molecular Informatics at Cambridge University, working on data analysis methods related to compound safety and efficacy, and Chief Technology & Informatics Officer (CITO) at PangeAI, part of Pangea Bio. Previously he was a Director for Digital Life Sciences at Nuvisan in Berlin, as well as an Associate Director for Data Science and AI in the Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences group at AstraZeneca. On the entrepreneurship side, Andreas was involved in setting up Healx Ltd (for data-driven drug repurposing) and PharmEnable Therapeutics Ltd (for designing novel chemistry for targets that are difficult to drug conventionally), both based in Cambridge, UK. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and worked in the Lead Discovery Informatics group at Novartis in Cambridge, MA as well as at Leiden University in the Netherlands before his current post.

Dr Peter Charlton

Peter has a long history of working in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Before becoming a drug discovery and development consultant, Peter held a number of senior posts in industry including Vice President of Biology at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. In this role Peter was responsible for the development of the UK Research Portfolio from target identification through to nomination of clinical candidates. Peter has worked across a number of therapeutic areas including oncology, neurodegeneration and multiple sclerosis and has managed many collaborations with industry and academia. Peter has a DPhil in Chemistry and Enzymology from the University of Sussex and started his career as a medicinal chemist before moving into biology. Peter is an Honorary Professor at the University of Warwick.

Prof Ian Collins

Ian Collins is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He brings more than thirty years’ research experience and a track record of delivering leads and candidates in oncology and CNS disease. Following a PhD at Cambridge University and an early medicinal chemistry career at The Neuroscience Research Centre of MSD, he moved to establish a medicinal chemistry team at the Cancer Therapeutics Unit of the ICR. He was a Scientific Co-founder of the protein degrader company Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc., and since 2022 has pursued his career as an independent scientific consultant.

Lenny Dang

Lenny Dang is an independent consultant on drug discovery and early clinical development. Until recently, he served as Vice President, Head of Research and Translational Biology at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he is the inventor who led the translational development of the FDA-approved PYRUKYND to treat rare hemolytic anemias. He also led the breakthrough discovery of the mechanism of mutant IDH in cancers, which led to the discovery and marketing approval of IDHIFA, TIBSOVO, as well as vorasidenib (under FDA/EMA review). Prior to joining Agios, he was a senior research biochemist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and at ProScript, with a discovery focus on targeting signaling and protein degradation pathways to treat hematological cancers. He is a graduate of Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a degree in Physics.

Prof David Spring

Dave Spring is a world-leading expert with decades of experience in drug discovery and next generation therapeutics, including methodologies for diversity-oriented synthesis. He leads a large and active academic research group in this space. He is a Professor at the University of Cambridge within the Chemistry Department and a Fellow of Trinity College. His research interests originate from a desire to understand and exploit biological systems using organic synthesis. He holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford under the supervision of Sir Jack Baldwin. He also worked at Harvard University with Stuart Schreiber before joining the faculty at Cambridge.

Shaun McNulty

Shaun is a Biochemist by training with over 25 years leadership experience in drug discovery including 11 years as a biotech CSO. As CSO Shaun has developed strategy and delivered R&D progress to 5 biotech corporate boards shaping corporate scientific, discovery and clinical directions. He has worked across therapeutic areas including CNS and oncology delivering from target identification through to the design and operational direction of successful clinical trials. He has supported the development of 2 marketed drugs, 11 clinical trials/studies, and directed activities leading to the development of over 50 candidates across target classes. Shaun completed his D.Phil. in cancer cell signalling from the University of York.

Prof Jackie Hunter

Professor Jackie Hunter CBE has over 30 years’ leadership experience in pharmaceutical and bioscience research across industry, public funding and AI-enabled drug discovery. At GSK she led neurology and gastrointestinal drug discovery as Senior Vice-President and later served as Chief Executive of the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). She subsequently became CEO of BenevolentBio, establishing the pharmaceutical R&D arm of BenevolentAI, and served on its Board until 2023.
Jackie currently holds several non-executive and chair roles, including Chair of Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, Chair of Brainomix and Biocortex, and board member of A*STAR and the Digital Health Accelerator Board in Singapore. She has received multiple awards and honorary doctorates, was appointed CBE for services to the pharmaceutical industry, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and other leading UK scientific societies.