Experience at the double as Shift Bioscience scales anti-ageing proposition
They will guide Shift in building a robust product translation and business development strategy respectively, enabling the company to capitalise on early momentum and progress its pipeline of novel rejuvenation therapeutics towards clinical development.
Following the company’s recent expansion into North America, these appointments will further strengthen Shift’s position, providing expert guidance and strategic insights to leverage the company’s AI powered virtual cell platform and accelerate its growth plans.
As Translation Advisor, Jill Reckless will work closely with Shift’s therapeutic translation team, to guide indication selection based on proof-of-concept data and therapeutic modalities suited to rejuvenation biology.
In his role as non-Executive Director, Laurence Reid will support the design and implementation of an effective business development framework, supporting company growth and harnessing advances in proof-of-concept data by strengthening product and commercial strategy.
Dr Reckless brings more than 20 years of expertise in translational biology, having successfully led drug discovery programs across a broad range of therapeutic indications and therapeutic modalities.
She is CEO and co-founder of RxCelerate, where she has supported the company from start-up to establishing it as a leading provider of drug discovery and development services.
She has worked closely with companies to design and execute complex therapeutic discovery pipelines. Dr Reckless holds a Ph.D. from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, and spent over a decade as an academic as part of the Department of Medicine at University of Cambridge.
Laurence Reid is an accomplished biotech entrepreneur, serving multiple C-Suite roles throughout his 30 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industries, specialising in strategic planning to advance new discovery platforms for clinical translation and financing.
He has held several executive positions within the industry, serving as CEO at Decibel Therapeutics (acquired by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) and Warp Drive Bio (merged with Revolution Medicines), as well as senior executive and business development roles at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Now focusing his expertise in advisory, non-executive roles, he sits on the Board of several companies, including KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Garuda Therapeutics and Broken String Biosciences. Laurence holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from King’s College, London.
Jill Reckless commented: “Age is a major driver of such a huge array of diseases, and yet, from a therapeutic point of view, our understanding of how to tackle it is extremely limited.
“Shift’s technology has clear potential to address this crucial gap, and I look forward to supporting the team as Translation Advisor, helping to explore new indications and triage promising new rejuvenation targets to combat disease."
Reid added: “Shift Bioscience’s virtual cell platform has the potential to revolutionise how we approach age-related disease – fully leveraging the power of AI to identify new therapeutic targets and combat a broad range of indications with growing unmet need.
“I’m pleased to be joining Shift at a pivotal point in its development and to offer my experiences to help as we advance therapeutic programs into the clinic and to market.”