About Us

Our Team

Meet our team of experts driving innovation in engineering biology through collaboration and research excellence

Our Team

Unparalleled expert team

At SynbiCITE our team combines unparalleled expertise in engineering biology with a passion for innovation.

Together, we work to accelerate the commercialisation of breakthrough technologies and support the growth of high-impact businesses. With decades of experience and a proven track record in building successful companies, we provide our partners with the expertise and network needed to drive innovation and scale transformative technologies.

Director

Richard Kitney

Co-Director
Richard Kitney

Co-Director
Bio

Key Appointments: – Co-Founder and Co-Director of the EPSRC National Centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation (CSynBI). – Co-Founder and Co-Director of SynbiCITE – the Innovation and Knowledge Centre for the translation and commercialisation of synthetic biology. – Professor of BioMedical Systems Engineering at Imperial College London. Professor Kitney has been working at the forefront of synthetic biology and has been pivotal in shaping its development in the UK and internationally since 2003. He has championed synthetic biology to governments, industry, learned societies and the public. Kitney is globally recognised as pioneering in the field. Dick has been a leader of UK R&D and the translation of synthetic biology for more than a decade, promoting global synthetic biology developments. As Chair of The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Inquiry into Synthetic Biology and a member of the UK’s Ministerial Synthetic Biology Leadership Council, Dick has driven the UK’s approach to the field and the technology, its development and its translation into industrially useful products, tools, processes and services – alongside educating future synthetic biologists. In addition to The Royal Academy of Engineering Inquiry Report (Synthetic biology – Scope, Applications and Implications, 2009), he is one of the authors of the two, subsequent, UK roadmaps for synthetic biology (A Synthetic Biology Roadmap for the UK, 2012; and Bio Design for the Bio Economy, 2016). Dick Co-Directs – with Professor Paul Freemont – the UK’s first R&D centre for Synthetic Biology and Innovation (CSynBI) and the UK’s National Industrial Translation Centre for Synthetic Biology (SynbiCITE). He gives many keynote presentations at public lectures and international conferences – recently the IET Kelvin Lecture and the City and Guilds Fellowship Lecture.
Director

Paul Freemont

Co-Director

Paul Freemont

Co-Director

Bio

Paul has been working at the forefront of international synthetic biology developments since 2002 and has played a key role with Dick Kitney in developing from the outset the UK strategy for synthetic biology research, innovation and training. A leading figure in synthetic biology, he has played a key part in the development of synthetic biology in the UK and was a co-author of the British Government’s UK Synthetic Biology Roadmap. Paul has been a passionate advocate for synthetic biology research and translation both in Europe and internationally and has participated as a technical expert in the United Nations Convention for Biological Diversity and Biological Weapons Convention. He is also a working group member of the US NIST synthetic biology standards consortium. Paul’s research interests span from understanding the molecular mechanisms of human diseases and infection to the development of synthetic biology platform technologies and biosensors and he is the author of over 170 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He gives many lectures both at international scientific meetings and also public lecture – the most recent being the Ellison-Cliffe medal lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine. With Dick Kitney, Paul co-founded and co-directs the UK’s first academic research centre for synthetic biology at Imperial College London (CSynBI) and the first R&D centre for synthetic biology SynbiCITE. Paul is also very active in public engagement including numerous public debates – the most recent at the Royal Institution and public displays including at the Science Museum and the first ‘pop-up’ lab at the Victoria and Albert museum. He is also an advocate for training young people and talks regularly at schools and and has successfully co-supervised Imperial undergraduate iGEM teams since 2006.
Manager

Megha Prakash Bangalore

PoC Programme Manager
Megha Prakash Bangalore

PoC Programme Manager
Bio

Megha Prakash Bangalore is an experienced Programme Manager and bioscience innovator with over 14 years of research experience spanning academia and industry. Currently serving as the Proof of Concept (PoC) Programme Manager, she leads strategic initiatives to support early-stage engineering and synthetic biology projects across the UK, enabling innovation at the intersection of biology and technology. Megha has a proven track record in stem cell research and bioprocess simplification, with particular expertise in media optimization and bioprocess development to enhance yield and product quality. Her work focuses on identifying and resolving critical bottlenecks in biomanufacturing processes, where she has consistently delivered cost-effective solutions within budget and timelines. She brings significant hands-on experience in small-scale bioreactor set-up, operation, and optimization, playing a key role in translating lab-scale processes to scalable manufacturing systems. Megha is passionate about enabling science-led innovation, supporting the next generation of bioengineers through her leadership in early-stage programme development.