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The Team
Dr Alaric Taylor
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Alaric obtained his BSc in Physics from Imperial College London and went on to the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering where he received an MRes in Photonic Systems. He was awarded a PhD for his work on bio-inspired thermally-responsive glazing from University College London (Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering). Alaric spent time working for Microsoft on the Hololens project in Finland as part of the Advanced Optics Rapid Prototyping team. He then returned to the UK to take up an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship within UCL’s Department of Chemistry in collaboration with Biolin Scientific. He worked as a research associate within the Adaptive and Responsive Nanomaterials (AdReNa) group within UCL’s Department of Chemical Engineering as part of an EU Horizon 2020 consortium project (DIACHEMO). His final role at UCL was as a member of the Rapid Prototyping & Fabrication Facility (Physics, Biochemical and Chemical Engineering), designing and manufacturing custom scientific instrumentation - reflecting his love of making things that enable others.
Dr Jugal Suthar
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Jugal is a clinical and industrial pharmacist, obtaining his MPharm degree from University College London. He has experience as a clinical pharmacist at the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, with a focus on acute-care and medicines optimisation. This preceded technical and commercial positions at Glaxosmithkline, Pfizer and India’s largest CDMO; Piramal Pharmaceuticals. Following his time in industry, Jugal completed a PhD in Nanomedicine and Pharmaceutical Engineering at University College London, in collaboration with Pfizer. His research marked a partnership between the Departments of Pharmacy and Chemical Engineering, developing novel biosensing approaches for the detection of exosomal protein biomarkers as part of minimally invasive liquid biopsies. His progress was recently recognised through his nomination as a Bioanalysis Rising Star in 2021. Jugal has helped found Vesynta through his passion for enterprise, med-tech and patient safety.
Professor Stefan Guldin
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Stefan is Professor of Adaptive and Responsive Nanomaterials and Deputy Head of Department (Enterprise) at University College London. From 2012 to 2014 Stefan undertook postdoctoral research with Professor Francesco Stellacci at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2012 he obtained a PhD from the University of Cambridge for his work with Professor Ullrich Steiner on ''Inorganic nanoarchitectures by organic self-assembly'', mainly elucidating the structure-function relationship in self-organised materials. Previously, he studied applied physics with an emphasis on soft matter at the TU Karlsruhe and TU Munich. For his work, Stefan has been awarded by the German Academy of Sciences, the German National Academic Foundation, the Cambridge Nano-Doctoral Training Centre, Springer Publishing and the European Materials Research Society.
Dr Anand P. Radhakrishnan
Innovation Scholars Fellow and Medical Device Engineer
Anand is a multi-disciplinary researcher, specialising in micro-engineering systems for various (bio)chemical and microbiological applications with significant experience in microfluidics, in situ analysis, optical high-speed imaging, and advanced computational image processing. Having graduated in biotechnology from Anna University, India (2011) and obtaining his PhD in biochemical engineering at University College London (2016), Anand has tackled various fluid-flow challenges at the microscale for reaction engineering, downstream separation and purification applications. Currently, Anand has recently expanded his skillset through the application of electrochemical, acoustic, and 3D X-ray imaging diagnostics on Li-ion batteries at the Electrochemical Innovations Lab at UCL. Keen on establishing a career in clinical diagnostics & healthcare engineering with a direct impact on the end-users, Anand has previously won a proof-of-concept Inspiration Grant from the EPSRC-funded, UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering to develop a microfluidic screening platform to quantify bacterial viability and has worked in multifaceted collaborative projects involving mathematicians, engineers, microbiologists and NHS clinicians.
Tobias de Mendonça
Medical Device Engineer
Toby is a medical device engineer involved in building our drug assay and hardware pipeline. He previously worked with the AdReNa research group on analytical techniques for the quantification of chemotherapeutic drugs in small body fluid samples. Toby graduated from the University of Oxford (2020) with a Master's in Chemistry (MChem). His research specialised in NMR, creating pulse sequences to obtain NOESY and HOESY spectra of fluorinated small molecules simultaneously using parallel acquisition NMR spectroscopy (PANSY) in order to dramatically reduce machine time.
Dr Mehzabin Patel
Quality Assurance Analyst
Mehzabin is our Quality Assurance Analyst. She is primarily involved in establishing and maintaining a quality management system and is responsible for regulatory compliance. Mehzabin obtained her BSc and MSc in Chemistry from University of Leicester and went on to work in research and development in the construction and mining industry. Following her time in industry, Mehzabin completed an Mres in Molecular Modelling and Materials Science and an EngD in Chemical Engineering at University of London in collaboration with BASF. Her research specialised in liquid crystal droplets for optoelectronics and materials templating.
Sepehr Samimi
Healthcare Business Analyst
Sepehr is a business analyst within Vesynta’s Technology Translation team. He is primarily involved in conducting economic analyses, engaging with technology stakeholders, and conducting market research to help expedite the transition of our Vesynta innovations into the UK healthcare system. Sepehr graduated with a BSc in Pharmaceutics from University College London (2019), and an MSc in Management from London Business School (2021). He has both operational and financial experiences across the life sciences industry, and most recently took part in a business consulting project with a medical technology start-up as the client, focusing on the financial and economic analyses required for introducing a new medical device to the B2B and B2C markets in the UK.
The Team
Dr Alaric Taylor
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Alaric obtained his BSc in Physics from Imperial College London and went on to the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering where he received an MRes in Photonic Systems. He was awarded a PhD for his work on bio-inspired thermally-responsive glazing from University College London (Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering). Alaric spent time working for Microsoft on the Hololens project in Finland as part of the Advanced Optics Rapid Prototyping team. He then returned to the UK to take up an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship within UCL’s Department of Chemistry in collaboration with Biolin Scientific. He worked as a research associate within the Adaptive and Responsive Nanomaterials (AdReNa) group within UCL’s Department of Chemical Engineering as part of an EU Horizon 2020 consortium project (DIACHEMO). His final role at UCL was as a member of the Rapid Prototyping & Fabrication Facility (Physics, Biochemical and Chemical Engineering), designing and manufacturing custom scientific instrumentation - reflecting his love of making things that enable others.
Dr Jugal Suthar
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
Jugal is a clinical and industrial pharmacist, obtaining his MPharm degree from University College London. He has experience as a clinical pharmacist at the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, with a focus on acute-care and medicines optimisation. This preceded technical and commercial positions at Glaxosmithkline, Pfizer and India’s largest CDMO; Piramal Pharmaceuticals. Following his time in industry, Jugal completed a PhD in Nanomedicine and Pharmaceutical Engineering at University College London, in collaboration with Pfizer. His research marked a partnership between the Departments of Pharmacy and Chemical Engineering, developing novel biosensing approaches for the detection of exosomal protein biomarkers as part of minimally invasive liquid biopsies. His progress was recently recognised through his nomination as a Bioanalysis Rising Star in 2021. Jugal has helped found Vesynta through his passion for enterprise, med-tech and patient safety.
Professor Stefan Guldin
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Stefan is Professor of Adaptive and Responsive Nanomaterials and Deputy Head of Department (Enterprise) at University College London. From 2012 to 2014 Stefan undertook postdoctoral research with Professor Francesco Stellacci at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. In 2012 he obtained a PhD from the University of Cambridge for his work with Professor Ullrich Steiner on ''Inorganic nanoarchitectures by organic self-assembly'', mainly elucidating the structure-function relationship in self-organised materials. Previously, he studied applied physics with an emphasis on soft matter at the TU Karlsruhe and TU Munich. For his work, Stefan has been awarded by the German Academy of Sciences, the German National Academic Foundation, the Cambridge Nano-Doctoral Training Centre, Springer Publishing and the European Materials Research Society.
Dr Shelby Barnett
Innovation Scholars Fellow and Clinical Pharmacologist
Shelby is a senior research associate working in the Newcastle Cancer Centre Pharmacology Group at Newcastle University. She was recently announced as the Bioanalysis Rising Star 2022 and has published extensively in the fields of therapeutic drug monitoring, paediatric oncology and cancer pharmacology. Shelby is seconded to Vesynta and contributes to assay development, clinical data analysis and strategic prioritisation of application areas.
Dr Anand P. Radhakrishnan
Innovation Scholars Fellow and Medical Device Engineer
Anand is a multi-disciplinary researcher, specialising in micro-engineering systems for various (bio)chemical and microbiological applications with significant experience in microfluidics, in situ analysis, optical high-speed imaging, and advanced computational image processing. Having graduated in biotechnology from Anna University, India (2011) and obtaining his PhD in biochemical engineering at University College London (2016), Anand has tackled various fluid-flow challenges at the microscale for reaction engineering, downstream separation and purification applications. Currently, Anand has recently expanded his skillset through the application of electrochemical, acoustic, and 3D X-ray imaging diagnostics on Li-ion batteries at the Electrochemical Innovations Lab at UCL. Keen on establishing a career in clinical diagnostics & healthcare engineering with a direct impact on the end-users, Anand has previously won a proof-of-concept Inspiration Grant from the EPSRC-funded, UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering to develop a microfluidic screening platform to quantify bacterial viability and has worked in multifaceted collaborative projects involving mathematicians, engineers, microbiologists and NHS clinicians.
Tobias de Mendonça
Medical Device Engineer
Toby is a medical device engineer involved in building our drug assay and hardware pipeline. He previously worked with the AdReNa research group on analytical techniques for the quantification of chemotherapeutic drugs in small body fluid samples. Toby graduated from the University of Oxford (2020) with a Master's in Chemistry (MChem). His research specialised in NMR, creating pulse sequences to obtain NOESY and HOESY spectra of fluorinated small molecules simultaneously using parallel acquisition NMR spectroscopy (PANSY) in order to dramatically reduce machine time.
Dr Mehzabin Patel
Quality Assurance Analyst
Mehzabin is our Quality Assurance Analyst. She is primarily involved in establishing and maintaining a quality management system and is responsible for regulatory compliance. Mehzabin obtained her BSc and MSc in Chemistry from University of Leicester and went on to work in research and development in the construction and mining industry. Following her time in industry, Mehzabin completed an Mres in Molecular Modelling and Materials Science and an EngD in Chemical Engineering at University of London in collaboration with BASF. Her research specialised in liquid crystal droplets for optoelectronics and materials templating.
Sepehr Samimi
Healthcare Business Analyst
Sepehr is a business analyst within Vesynta’s Technology Translation team. He is primarily involved in conducting economic analyses, engaging with technology stakeholders, and conducting market research to help expedite the transition of our Vesynta innovations into the UK healthcare system. Sepehr graduated with a BSc in Pharmaceutics from University College London (2019), and an MSc in Management from London Business School (2021). He has both operational and financial experiences across the life sciences industry, and most recently took part in a business consulting project with a medical technology start-up as the client, focusing on the financial and economic analyses required for introducing a new medical device to the B2B and B2C markets in the UK.