Professor Munro has over 25 years’ research and development experience, including with multinational biopharmaceutical company Amgen. During this time which included the role of Executive Director leading a global team, Professor Munro played key roles in the translation of molecules from research, through clinical trials, regulatory approval, and global licensure. This included a diverse range of programs spanning novel biologics, small molecules, nucleic acid-based, cell-based and gene-based therapies across multiple therapeutic areas. As Senior Vice President of Therapeutics at Microba Life Sciences, Professor Munro leads the Company’s therapeutic strategy to progress its drug development programs and pharma partnering engagements. Prior to joining Microba, Professor Munro held several leadership roles in Australia including Director of the National Biologics Facility (NBF), Program Director of the CEPI funded Rapid Response Vaccine pipeline, Director of the ARC Centre for Biopharmaceutical Innovation (CBI) and Senior Group Leader at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) at the University of Queensland. Professor Munro completed postdoctoral studies in cell biology and developmental genetics at Harvard Medical School and the University of Cambridge and has a PhD in Protein Biochemistry from the University of Queensland.

Denise is Founder and CO-CEO JourneyTech Pty Ltd, a comprehensive research & technology translation and commercialisation service.  

She started her formal training as a biologist in the UK, graduating with a PhD from the University of York, in the field of molecular biology.  

After moving to Australia in 2004, Denise undertook a post-doctoral position at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland. With a strong foundation in the biological sciences, Denise then trained as a patent attorney, becoming registered in Australia and New Zealand in 2010. With a number of years’ experience working in private patent and trademark attorney firms, Denise has critical expertise in IP strategy and management across all areas of IP, including patents, trademarks, plant breeders’ rights and designs.  

In 2010, Denise joined QUTbluebox Pty Ltd as a Commercialisation Manager, responsible for ‘cradle to grave’ commercialisation of technologies across the University in all areas of research.  

In 2014, Denise became Director, Commercial Operations at QUT bluebox, responsible for commercialisation from licensing to startup creation, industry partnerships, IP strategy, protection and management, and early seed funding, leading a team of Commercialisation Managers. In 2017, Denise extended her experience in commercialisation to the United Kingdom, where she joined The University of Edinburgh. Denise led the Business Development team (across biology, chemistry and physics), establishing multiple industry partnerships, negotiating benefit sharing arrangements between parties and driving research translation efforts.  

With a key understanding of international models, Denise moved to Melbourne and joined Agriculture Victoria Services Pty Ltd (AVS) as their Chief Operating Officer, leading and delivering on all commercial, research translation activities for Agriculture Victoria and managing the commercial team.  

After three and a half years at AVS, Denise joined James Cook University (JCU) in Townsville to become their Director, JCU Connect, leading the University’s Research Office, Commercialisation and Innovation capabilities across all areas of the university. Since founding JourneyTech, Denise has continued to collaborate with JCU across IP management, research translation and commercialisation.

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Kym is a University of Queensland, Australia 1st class Chemical Engineering Honours graduate in Biotechnology with a PhD from the Australian National University (ANU) & CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation).

Kym has >30 years experience gained both in Australia and the UK working in the biomanufacturing field with industry partners such as GE (now Cytiva), Celltech (now UCB), GSK and British Biotech with UCL London and University of Kent, UK, with the last 23 years in management positions in the contract manufacturing industry including Lonza Biologics UK and Patheon Biologics, Thermo Fisher Scientific (since 2015) working across Development, Quality, MS&T and Operations in senior leadership positions.

Kym returned to Australia in 2015 as General Manager of the Brisbane Biologics site. She is responsible for managing Patheon’s advanced biologics manufacturing operations and driving the future growth of this ISPE award winning and TGA (Australian regulator) approved facility. Kym is passionate about ensuring Australia and APAC remains strategically competitive in biotechnology throughout the 4th Industrial revolution through developing and mentoring and coaching the young scientists and engineers of today to lead this exciting future tomorrow. She is experienced working across cultures and supports a site with strong diversity to meet the needs of her global clientele.

Kym has experience across research, early development, process development and both clinical and commercial manufacturing stages of Biotherapeutic production, taking several biologics products through development to commercialisation at both Lonza, UK and now also at Thermo Fisher Scientific. The facility is based on a major Brisbane hospital campus, which reminds the team every day of why the site exists: to serve the patients of our clients at the receiving end of the life saving medicines that we manufacture, something that the Brisbane Biologics team prides itself on.

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Sagadevan Mundree was appointed Director of the Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities (CTCB) at Queensland University of Technology in January 2016. Prior to that, Sagadevan was Deputy Director of the CTCB for 5 years. He leads a research Team that is focused on making crops more resilient to environmental stresses such as drought and salinity and more nutritious. Prior to joining QUT, he was a Senior Executive in the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QPIF) where he led a Team that was responsible for QPIF’s Investments in Research, Development and Extension in all the primary industries of Queensland. Sagadevan is a former academic from the University of Cape Town and served as Chief Executive Officer of South Africa’s National Innovation Centre for Agricultural Biotechnology. He holds a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology, which he completed at Auburn University (USA) on a Fulbright Scholarship, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and recently became a Senior Executive Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School. Sagadevan is a member of the South African Academy of Science and served on the National Biotechnology Advisory Council.

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Sarah is a partner at OneVentures, one of Australia’s leading venture capital firms – she is responsible for sourcing life sciences companies who have developed transformative technology with global application. She applies her global executional experience and entrepreneurial passion to nurture their success, providing pathways for growth and actively shaping their future. Her enterprise level leadership experience has been forged over 20 years in a wide spectrum of organisations, including start-up, private companies, ASX and NASDAQ-listed companies, a multi-national pharmaceutical company and university research organisations.

A passionate Queensland champion for our sector she has worked in QLD across the life science ecosystem from agriculture to healthcare. She is a deal maker and has a transaction record that spans the spectrum of small investments, to collaborations with universities, to small companies with ambitions to scale, to big pharma transactions worth 100’s of millions of dollars.

Sarah is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and currently serves on the boards of Kira Biotech, Axial Therapeutics, Vaxxas, Blade Therapeutics, Clinical Genomics and Life Sciences Queensland. She is a member of the UQ QAAFI advisory board, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Commercial Advisory Board and the AusBiotech Investment Advisory Group.