ABOUT US

A multidisciplinary team dedicated to improving
the lives of patients with autoimmune and chronic
inflammatory diseases

Team

team member

Mohammad Khobreh MSc

Managing Partner, Co-founder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/khobreh/
Mohammad co-leads NG Bio's day-to-day operations and heads the company's fundraising and community efforts to establish meaningful relationships with investors, academics, and, most importantly, patients. In addition, he drives NG Bio's strategy implementation through current and previous investments, including LightOx (oncology), HexagonFab (biosensors) and Cellesce (bioprocessing). Mohammad is a long-time life science entrepreneur. He is an investor and director at Day Pharma (CDMO) and QMAB (bioprocessing). Further, Mohammad sits on the investment committee of a PE fund with 23 companies under management. Currently, most companies are in the energy and food sector, but Mohammad is leading the expand into the life sciences sector. Mohammad has a master's degree in Risk Management and Insurance from Bayes Business School of London (formerly Cass) and a bachelor's degree in Management and Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Nottingham. During his free time, Mohammad is an avid reader. He devours all subjects but particularly enjoys reading about behavioural science, philosophy and macroeconomics. Also, he has just started to play the piano and is looking forward to the arduous yet enjoyable learning journey! What does Mohammad bring to NG Bio? Mohammad's curiosity is responsible for a team environment where everyone can and should think, share, and question freely and often. He loves it when the best idea wins but is not afraid to challenge the status quo and pursue lateral, disruptive solutions, even if these fail.
team member

Jason Goldstein MBA CA

General Partner, Co-founder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbgoldstein/
Besides co-leading the company's operations, Jason heads the strategic arm of NG Bio. He defines the venture builder's business development and investment strategy, including previous angel investments in Cellesce (bioprocessing), HexagonFab (biosensors) and LightOx (oncology). Jason has worked with entrepreneurs across the life sciences as an advisor and angel investor for over five years. Before starting NG Bio, he helped founders in the biotech and mental health space go from ideation to funding and beyond. Prior to his entrepreneurial experience, Jason worked for EY in London and Tokyo, supporting Japanese biotechs and pharmaceutical companies with restructuring and M&A. Jason holds an MBA from London Business School and is a Chartered Accountant. He graduated with a first-class bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Loughborough University. He is passionate about learning and has recently completed courses on immunology and pharmacology. Moreover, he loves staying active by playing football, running, cycling and indulging in the occasional ski and surfing trip. What does Jason bring to NG Bio? Jason's engineering mind excels at building something from nothing. He constantly encourages the team to frame key concepts, break down complex issues, and define easy processes to ensure a seamless operation.
team member

Richard Kaschula PhD

Principal
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-kaschula-998674136/
Richard brings more than a decade of experience in research to NG Bio, where he is responsible for identifying life changing opportunities and evaluating their scientific and commercial viability as a potential new ventures. Before joining NG Bio, Richard was part of the LifeArc Technology Transfer Fellowship, where he held a similar role. Richard has conducted research across several disciplines during his academic career. Still, his passion is understanding the fundamentals of the human genome and how its regulation shapes the function and development of cells and tissues. However, Richard's broad experience and interest in fundamental biology and the biopharma industry give him the tools necessary to effectively identify great opportunities. Richard earned a PhD in developmental genetics and a post-doctoral fellowship at The Francis Crick Institute, London. Most recently, he obtained a master's degree in Finance, where he completed research on the role of acquisitions in shaping innovative output in the biopharma industry. He loves to explore the countryside with his favourite 4-legged friend and recently took up a new hobby of woodworking. He particularly enjoys the creativity in the craft and the practical aspects of learning a new skill. What does Richard bring to NG Bio? Richard is a critical thinker who likes to take a systemic problem-solving approach. His time in academia has given him ample opportunity to work with others in breaking down problems and devising strategies to develop research. He is always open to discussing new ideas and theories and enjoys placing these contextually in the bigger picture.
team member

Tim Carlton PhD

Director, Drug Development
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timcarltonscientificprojectlead/
Tim is responsible for NG Bio's approach to therapeutic development. Working closely with our network of industry boards, CROs, and KOLs, Tim assesses the pharmaceutical technology and its therapeutic potential, and then formulates the right plans for each therapeutic venture. Using the latest techniques to de-risk and optimise development, Tim supports each of our founders navigate the often tricky process of translation. Before joining NG Bio, Tim previously worked as a Director of Autoimmune Research at Imcheck Therapeutics, Associate Director of Discovery at VHsquared, and Consultant Project Manager of Drug Development at LeanPharma. Throughout these roles, he completed several successful drug discovery programmes in inflammatory intestinal diseases, managed the preclinical development of a CNS-active small molecule drug, and devised drug development plans for novel autoimmune therapies. Before finding his passion in drug development, Tim worked as a trainee patent attorney at a prestigious London firm. Tim has a PhD in Microbial Genetics from the University of Otago and completed a postdoctoral position at the University of Cambridge working on pathogenic bacteria. He translated these skills into the industry in the first position to treat bacteria-induced inflammation in GI disease. When not cooking and discovering new cuisines, Tim can be found in the outdoors pursuing his favourite sports of mountain biking and snowboarding. What does Tim bring to NG Bio? Tim is known for his analytical thinking and loves nothing more than getting into the weeds on a topic. He uses these skills to help his team members achieve their goals, motivating them to problem-solve and express themselves freely.
team member

Deniz Bakkalci PhD

Associate
https://www.linkedin.com/in/deniz-bakkalci/
Deniz holistically analyses NG Bio's potential opportunities by looking at their disease and molecular action mechanisms, their therapeutic feasibility, and unmet medical needs. As the company's ESG Lead, she is responsible for pushing the boundaries of sustainability within drug research and development. Before joining NG Bio, Deniz was a research fellow at University College London (UCL) and the Sustainability Lead of the UCL Division of Surgery. While completing her PhD, Deniz was a tissue bank officer with Tissue Access for Patient Benefit (TAPb) at the NHS. During her time at TAPb, she engaged in operational and administrative roles, giving her a holistic view of oncology projects and clinical trials. Additionally, Deniz worked for The Royal Free in London, helping with research projects and clinical trials during the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Deniz holds a PhD from UCL and two masters from UCL and Newcastle University on Global Health and Economics and Cancer Research, respectively. She loves her daily yoga routine and looks forward to playing tennis every Saturday. Moreover, she is a world traveller, a proper foodie and a devoted art enthusiast. What does Deniz bring to NG Bio? Deniz is a team player who brings a creative and positive mindset to the team. She is quick to adapt to changing environments and even quicker to suggest ideas that most sustainably tackle NG Bio's pressing challenges.
team member

Neil Gozzard PhD

Drug Development Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-gozzard-8a94935/
Neil is an Immunopharmacologist providing advice & expertise to support preclinical drug discovery projects in inflammatory & autoimmune diseases. He has over 30 years’ experience in the discovery & development of novel therapeutics at UCB-Celltech. Significant contribution to UCB’s drug discovery research pipeline being instrumental for progression of 3 biological and 3 small molecule projects into clinical studies. He was also involved in the in-licensing of 2 early clinical candidates for the treatment of Fibrosis & Type 1 diabetes from academia. He has performed numerous roles within pre-clinical research including group leader, project leadership, new target strategy, portfolio management, translational research, in-licencing and external collaborations. Most recent role was Senior Director of New Targets & Scouting to create a research pipeline of high value differentiated medicines from internal and external sources. External opportunities ranging from new targets to phase 2B drug candidates are identified from academic groups and biotech companies for internal assessment. Over the past 15 years he reviewed and triaged hundreds of in-licensing project applications.
team member

Ted Parton PhD

Drug Development Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ted-parton-1608329/
Ted is a consultant to international pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical research and development, with 30 years’ experience in drug metabolism, bioanalysis, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety evaluation, from concept to post-marketing support. With a BA in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from Cambridge and a PhD in natural product chemistry from Southampton, he has broad knowledge of a wide variety of technologies. In eight years at Upjohn and 21 years at Celltech/UCB, he worked in most therapeutic areas and gained insight into many of the difficulties that patients, scientists, clinicians and executives face. He has worked on small molecule and biologic projects. He is first author on a patent for a kinase inhibitor in development (seletalisib) and has extensive experience of the in vivo properties of high molecular weight PEG. Through his involvement in Due Diligence for both in-licensing and out-licensing projects, he has investigated and assessed many technological developments.
team member

Christina Nesheva

Venture Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-nesheva/
Christina Nesheva is the former Co-founder and Director of the Innovation Lab of ViiV Healthcare and the author of “The Entrepreneur’s BattleBook”, battlebook.co, a step-by-step guide to turning ideas into viable business. Christina has been leading the development of innovative products and services with both startups and leading healthcare organisations in the US and in Europe and ensuring the strategic focus and alignment of innovation activities. Christina has extensive commercial and general management experience in the pharmaceutical industry with specialisation in new product commercialisation and launches. She has led the development of GSK’s global approach to launching new medicines and the new product launch function for GSK Europe. Christina has held a number of senior commercial roles, including general manager of GSK Latvia. Christina is often an assessor in startup and funding competitions and a mentor in the Business Growth Program of London & Partners. She was also a member of the Financial Times Advisory Board for the preparation of the FT Global Pharma and Biotech Conference in 2018. Christina has an MBA from the London Business School.
team member

John Weinberg MD PhD

Investment Committee Member
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-weinberg-md-mba-1223bb4/
John is an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech physician with a track-record of success in building organisations and leading and managing product development programmes. His 25 year career has spanned multiple large pharmaceutical companies such as Wyeth and Novartis and smaller biotech organisations such as Veloxis, 4D Pharma, Enzon and MaaT, with roles in both the USA and Europe. John has been responsible for the development and launch of many drugs in the fields of immunology, oncology and transplantation. John qualified as a medical doctor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and practiced cardiology at Baragwanath Hospital before obtaining an MBA from INSEAD in France.
team member

Chris Williams PhD

Investment Committee Member
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-williams-18367731/
Chris is responsible for leading Autolus’ business development activities. Prior to Autolus he served as a senior business manager at UCL Business where he developed extensive experience in early stage technology commercialisation of academic technologies including licensing, strategic partnerships, fund raising and company formation. Chris has held non-executive directorships at Autolus and Orchard Therapeutics, two of the UCL spinout companies he founded during his tenure at UCL Business. Previously Chris has held BD positions in UK biotech (Thiologics and Canbex) and for large pharma (Eli Lilly). Before moving into BD, Chris worked as a research scientist in industry (GSK and Inpharmatica) and academia (Imperial). Chris holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Imperial College London, and worked as a Postdoctoral scientist in the MRC Lymphocyte Development group also based at Imperial College London.
team member

Adel Nada MD

Investment Committee Member, Venture Advisor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelnada70/
Adel Nada is biotech executive and serial entrepreneur. Currently, he advises several funds on new venture creation and is co-founder and executive chairman of Trutina and FytonBio, two early-stage companies in the immunology and inflammation space. Previously, Adel cofounded and was CEO of GentiBio, a biotherapeutics company developing engineered regulatory T cells programmed to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Adel led GentiBio through two rounds of equity financing and the first transformative deal with large pharma in the Treg space. Prior to GentiBio, Adel was the Chief Medical Officer of Casebia Therapeutics where he worked on advancing engineered regulatory T cell (Tregs) therapeutics. In the past, Adel has held executive positions in various biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Vice President at Intellia Therapeutics and Caladrius Biosciences, and various senior positions directing clinical development at Baxter and Abbott. He successfully led translational and immunology programs over past 15 years for experimental and approved therapies, spanning small and large molecules and engineered immune cell products, including Tregs products. Adel received his medical degree from Alexandria University in Egypt and his master’s degree in clinical research from the Pharmacology Dept. at Rush University in Chicago where he also held an academic position. Adel completed advanced studies in drug development at UCSF and University of Basel before becoming a Member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in the UK. Prior to joining the industry, Adel trained in surgery and internal medicine and practiced for 10 years in Chicago