Management

Dr Choo is Chairman of Plasticell Ltd and of Progenitor Labs Ltd. He is the founder of Plasticell and served as Chief Executive and Chief Scientist of the company. Prior to his interest in stem cells he was a founder and Chief Scientist of Gendaq (acquired by Sangamo Biosciences), a biotech company that developed the zinc finger technology now used for gene editing. Previously he was a staff scientist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, where he pioneered the engineering of protein-DNA interactions using combinatorial methods under Nobel laureate Sir Aaron Klug. Dr Choo holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge and for his thesis received the Prize for Young Scientists awarded by GE Healthcare and Science (1996), and the Max Perutz Student Prize awarded by MRC-LMB (1995). He sits on the UK Stem Cell Steering Committee which oversees national stem cell research and the UK Stem Cell Bank.

Dr. Tarunina was one of Plasticell’s first recruits, serving the company as Principal Scientist since 2007 and as Research Director from 2017. She has contributed to the development of the company’s CombiCult® technology platform and exemplified its broad applications in different areas of stem cell biology. Prior to joining Plasticell she was a senior scientist at Inpharmatica Ltd conducting drug discovery research in the area of metabolic disease. Previously she held postdoctoral fellowships at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Marie Curie Research Institute where her research was focused on tumour suppressors and senescence. Dr Tarunina graduated in Biology/Microbiology from Leningrad State University and holds a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Russian Academy of Science.