The Team - Neurogenics Cognitive Health

Board and Commercial Advisory Board

Neurogenics recognises that innovation emerges from teams of talented individuals operating in environments based on equality and harmony; that support free thinking and problem solving. We believe that our diverse cultural and mental assets provide an ideal platform on which to cultivate the ideas that drive innovative solutions and commercialisation options.

We will strive to defend and develop this multicultural approach in order to present the optimum conditions for our Boards, Associates, Suppliers and Employees to flourish. We will treat everyone fairly no matter their geographical location, skin colour, religion or sexual choices. As an ethical Business with a Global World view we aspire to deliver a positive and responsible social and environmental impact whilst balancing profit optimisation and shareholder value.

Board

Dara Anton

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Dara Anton has supported Neurogenics in the Company secretariat role since its inception. She is an exceptional communicator and is highly organised. Her natural interest in botanicals and their applications to cardiovascular health and cognitive health is a passion linked to her love of nature and plants. Her previous roles have been both UK and internationally based from Europe to the Emirates as a senior compliance executive and in private wealth offices managing shareholder relationships. Her easy going styles hides a range of superlative skills that makes her an essential part of the team and gives us additional strength.

Lesvia Trigueros Lopez

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Lesvia represents the Neurogenics in Guatemala and El Salvador. She brings to the company a wealth of skills and an understanding of the dynamics of central America. Her amazing personality and ability to interact with people enables the company to get access to key decision makers. Her networking skills and warmth have enabled her to build on her strong educational accomplishments. She is from the east of Guatemala .Her initial high school education resulted in her qualifying as an accountant. She then decided to change direction and studied law. She has studied at the University of San Carlos de Guatemala and then went on to the University of Fullerton in California in the US. She was the CEO of a large international hotel. Here she build the organisation into a forward looking business that served the US military delegations and liaising with the military on a regular basis in Eastern Guatemala. She has worked closely with the US Embassy in a position of delegated trust. She brings to Neurogenics and its sister companies not only a level of expertise that is critical to its supply chain development but provides a vital link to its ethical and socioeconomic objectives in the region alongside profit maximisation. She is fluent in English and Spanish and is a qualified lawyer and a registered public Notary.

Dr Roger Carline

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Dr Roger Carline manages a successful consultancy to businesses in the fresh produce, nutraceuticals and intellectual property licensing sector focusing on commercial advantage in botanical innovation. This includes new product and service development, use of intellectual property and strategic partnerships for market diversification. He is an entrepreneurial executive manager and expert in the use of technical acumen to convert market analysis into equity value and revenues by re-focussing existing resources and efficient creation of new capability. This has included the creation of new and cross market products and services. With numerous successful product launches, license deals and strategic partnerships across multiple market sectors (fresh produce, food ingredients, food manufacture, medical devices, electronics & telecoms, engineering and aerospace) his impact has created, secured and profitably grown start-up, small and medium size business, including those with IP and patent design he has work on numerous types of patents with various industries. Originally a successful defence research physicist Roger’s passion for the creation of commercial advantage from knowledge and innovation grew from roles focussed on identifying and realising the commercial value of his colleagues’ and his own research. Success led to a senior role working for the UKs central government, regional and devolved administrations, and industr

Kevin Wilson

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Kevin Wilson is an experienced research and food scientist he has had various high level jobs Technical/NPD & Commercial Director in companies such as Natures Finest, now owned by Coca Cola. He has extensive e Food/FMCG industry experience in technical problem solving, New Product Development, Sales & Marketing and Production Management. He is an extremely conscientious and highly motivated individual, empathetic and excels in technical challenges. His effective communications skills and strong interpersonal skills and proven effective in working at all business levels.

Dr John Mina

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Dr John Mina has a multidisciplinary background with wide expertise covering characterisation of identified drug targets (development and optimisation of activity assay, determination of kinetic parameters & catalysis model), design & synthesis of focused chemical libraries, designing & conducting ex-vivo and in-cellulo screens and assays, SAR analysis, molecular modelling and target validation. Immediately after finalising his PhD, he was the lead researcher in two academia-industry collaborative projects conducting an inhibitor screen against a promising drug target in Leishmania parasite (Durham University in collaboration with MRC-Technology and the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation, Spain, respectively) which gave him an extensive experience working with industrial partners and in industrial settings. In 2013, he was awarded the prestigious EU Marie-Curie Fellowship to carry out his own research project as a Research Fellow in the lab of Prof Holthuis at the University of Osnabrueck and Utrecht University. His research focused on the identification of ceramide effectors and their involvement in the induction of mitochondrial apoptosis.In 2016, he relocated back to the UK and joined a collaborative project between University of Glasgow and Durham University where he used a combination of advanced genome editing (CRISPR, Cre recombinase), molecular and cellular biology, and biochemical & biophysical novel technique (e.g. cell-free expression of integral membrane proteins) to functionally characterise the key enzymes of sphingolipid biosynthesis and assess their tractability as potential drug targets in in the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Brian Scorer

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Brian Scorer is an entrepreneurial Mechanical Engineer with over 30 years’ of International experience served in Corporate and Private Equity Businesses. Extensive experience in the establishment of Joint Ventures and Wholly Owned Enterprises in Asia, India, Middle East, Europe, North America and South America. Broad experience in the identification, evaluation and acquisition of suitable bolt-ons to existing Business Portfolios. Hands on Management of International Businesses with Turnover in excess of £100M and development of manufacturing facilities to optimise global reach. Brian brings to the board extensive international reach and deal making expertise.

Dr Safwan Akram

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Dr Safwan Akram is working at School of Science & Engineering as a Senior Lecturer in Biologics & Process Engineering. Safwan obtained his PhD in Analytical Biotechnology from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge where he also did his post-doctoral thesis developing low-cost diagnostics. Prior to that he completed his M.Phil in Bioscience Enterprise under the auspices of Cambridge /MIT Partnership. His work has been published in reputable journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Lab on a Chip & Annual Reviews of Analytical Chemistry and has been cited over 1000 times. He has been awarded the Medimmune Award (2014) and Cambridge Sens Innovative Idea award (2009) for research excellence. He has also recently won ‘Star Award for Outstanding Teaching’ (2018) voted by the students. He regularly peer reviews papers for Analytica Chimica Acta, Lab on a Chip and Scientific Reports amongst others. He is a fellow of Higher Education Academy and member of Royal Society of Chemistry and Pakistan Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Colin Francis

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Colin Francis is is the founder and Chair of Neurogenics. He has worked on the development of a flavanol technology from the botanical extracts of cacao for over fifteen years. This has flowed from work that he had previously done on the economics of cacao cultivation linked to poverty and increasing yields. His attention moved from chocolate/confectionery paradigm to a medical application which was to totally change his world view. In 2018 the first patent based on pure cacao of its kind was granted by the UK Patent Office. His work has since progressed to [Cardiovascular and Neurodegenerative applications of the Complex Chemical [-] Epicatechin and the powerful stimulants found in Cacao. He has worked closely with the CPI and a number of Universities on the challenge of delivering these chemicals and stimulants into the body in the most natural formats through differing platforms. The work of the company and the board is unique due to potential social impact that it can have on Cardiovascular and Neurodegenerative diseases as well as creating an economic model that allows growers a fairer price for therapeutic/nutraceutical applications allow farmers to be paid more for pure cacao than the confectionery model that keeps them in poverty.

Commercial Advisory Board

Dr Vianney Castaneda Monroy

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Dr Vianney Castaneda Monroy currently is senior researcher at the Center for Research and Development in Health (CENSALUD) at the University of El Salvador. She develops her scientific activity in the field of Ecohealth in the prevention of vectorized diseases and chronic non-communicable diseases; using as a model the “Bioprospecting of domesticated cocoa in El Salvador and its ecosystem application in health and economic growth”. Vianney is a distinguished Biologist originally from the National University of Colombia, 1988. Her Doctorate studies were in Molecular Biology at the University of Madrid’s Center for Biological Research both the Higher Council for Scientific Research. To add to her achievements she is also a specialist in Electron Microscopy from the University of Costa Rica. She collaborated as a master’s teacher in the areas of Sustainable Development Management, Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Health. She has been an environmental impact assessment consultant working on various national impact projects. She has completed several specialized courses in the areas of cell and molecular biology, cytogenetics, tumor biology, and international cooperation in science and technology.
Vianney has been the author of numerous publications on gene expression, pathology, environment, Chagas disease and cocoa genetics and of two books oriented to the use of morphological descriptors and cocoa genetics. She is part of technical teams in regional initiatives in EcoSalud and Cacao. As coordinator of the research team in Ecosalud y cacao, she has participated in regional projects such as: EcoSalud Interventions for the prevention of Chagas disease in Central America: a project funded by the IDRC of Canada carried out in association with the LENAP of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala and Ministry of Health of Honduras. Project: Modeling Disease Transmission using Spatial Mapping of Vector-parasite genetics and vector feeding patterns. Carried out in consortium with the LENAP of the San Carlos University of Guatemala and the University of Vermont, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Amy Moran Rodriguez

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Amy is a Pharmaceutical-Chemist from the University of El Salvador, 2004, with a sub-specialization in Applied Microbiology. Master in Research and Rational Use of Medicines from the University of Valencia, Spain in 2008, and Master in Management of Sanitary Programs in Food Safety, from the University for International Cooperation, Costa Rica in 2015. She has 15 experience years in food and water quality control, with an emphasis on microbiological analysis. She has worked for more than five years in the fermentation process of Salvadoran cocoas, with an emphasis on the characterization of the microbial populations involved and their role in the fermentation process.
She has carried out several specialized courses at national and international level in the areas of molecular biology (with an emphasis on molecular strategies for the identification of microorganisms), pharmacogenetics, food quality and safety, tasting of coffee and cocoa samples for organoleptic, physical and chemical profiles. She currently works as a Researcher at the Center for Research and Development in Health (CENSALUD) of the University of El Salvador. She develops her activity in the areas of Food and Water Microbiology, with an emphasis on food safety, in the area of antimicrobial resistance, and in the characterization of microbial populations from cocoa fermentations, using molecular and morphological tools. Also works in characterization of polyphenols present in cocoa. She has participated in national projects such as “Development of a technological model for the rescue, characterization and development of the Agro-industrial Potential of the indigenous cocoa of El Salvador” in collaboration with UES-UNICAES / Rutgers University; financed with a USAID grant in the context of the Program for a Productive Higher Education. She has been awarded the prize in Scientific and/or Technological Research in Higher Education and Research Centers, 2019 in the Health category for a project about the content of polyphenols in cocoa. She is currently a member of the Network of Salvadoran Researchers of CONACYT (REDISAL).

Dr Sola Idowu

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Dr Sola Idowu is the founder and CEO of Hexis Lab, UK. An accomplished complex systems scientist; he was a postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University, School of Engineering, working at NASA AMES California, from 2000 to 2002 and Newcastle University, School of Computing Science from 2002 to 2005. Sola has a track record in entrepreneurial innovation, with many scientific publications to his name as well as ownership of over 10 patents in data analysis, biomedical research and product development.

He is one of the founding members of e-Therapeutics plc, a public listed company spun-out of Newcastle University School of Computing Science in 2003. He was technical lead on drug discovery research and development that resulted in the discovery of 7 repositioned drug candidates documented in different patents. Some of the lead drug candidates are now in advanced oncology clinical trials in the UK and USA.

Dr David Vauzour

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Dr David Vauzour has a PhD in Chemical and Biological Sciences for Health (Faculty of Pharmacy, University Montpellier 1 France) and an MSc in Biological and Medical Sciences (Faculty of Pharmacy, University Bordeaux 2, France). His research has involved the fields of oxidative stress, free radical biochemistry, neuro degeneration and the health effects of dietary polyphenols, such as flavonoids.

Concurrently, his major research interests centre on two functionally associated fields of biomedical sciences: The elucidation of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the toxicity exerted by endogenously formed compounds; and the cellular and molecular principles involved in the protective effects evoked by potentially beneficial natural compounds.

Tony Barry

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Tony Barry is an engineer and precision toolmaker by training. He has over 50 years of mechanical, combustible and hydraulic engineering experience at the highest levels. He has extensive experience of solving high level technical engineering problems have published and patented his work.

He specialises in developing solutions for manufacturing problems by developing porotype beta models and then scaling up the too full production line capabilities. His skills span both micro engineering to major large scale engineering projects.

Allan Fletchers

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Allan Fletcher carried out CNS drug discovery research on anxiolytic, antidepressant and cognitive-enhancing drugs at Hoffmann-La Roche and Wyeth-Ayerst Research before co-founding Cerebrus Ltd, the first U.K. neuroscience research start-up company.
In 1999 he returned to the North East (having been born and raised in Stockton-on-Tees) to join the University of Durham to teach biomedical sciences.

Ian Pilkington

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Ian currently runs a consultancy and management support practice in the UK advising food and drink businesses on growth and manufacturing strategies from factory planning through to performance improvement and delivering sustainable results through people. The company consults on manufacturing process and process engineering to improve performance. They also implement cultural change programs around performance and ownership. Prior to starting his own practice, Ian had extensive experience in blue chip manufacturing, working with Arla Foods and Nestle in the UK, as well as running several sites for Nestle across the Far East. Ian’s experience has seen him set up factories in China and achieve world class performance standards inside 12 months, and play a key role in rationalising the dairy business for Nestle in the UK. His food related career actually began in researching aspects of cacao, and Ian has first-hand experience of life on a cocoa plantation in Malaysia

Dr Solomon Agyare

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Dr Solomon Agyare
is currently working as a Research Scientist at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG). The focus of his research at CRIG includes screening hybrid cocoa for resistance against Phytophthora and investigating diseases of cashew. He is also interested in finding alternative uses of cocoa and cashew apart from the traditional applications. He holds a doctorate in Plant Pathology and Epidemiology from Cranfield University, UK, an MSc. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology from the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and a BSc. Botany (Hons) from the University of Ghana, Legon. He serves as a Freelance Research Impact Consultant for Cactus Communications (Singapore), University of Ghana Legon (Ghana), and Universities in the UK, and Asia. He previously served as a Research Impact Officer for the University of Leicester, UK; Research Pathologist for the National Institute of Agricultural Botany – East Malling Research (NIAB EMR), and Berry Gardens Growers Ltd., UK. He was also a Research Assistant on Research Impact for the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, UK, and a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Associate Research Scientist for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK. He is a member of the Royal Society of Biology (RSB), British Society for Plant Pathology (BSPP), British Mycological Society (BMS), and Ghana Science Association (GSA). He serves as a Reviewer for the International Journal of Food Microbiology. He was recognised for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) submission for the School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham (2014). The paper is titled: Industrial process enhancements improved the efficacy of weak acid anti-fungal preservatives used in foods and beverages, and other manufacturing improvements.