Management

James Noble, CEO

As the former CEO of Avidex Limited, James has in-depth knowledge of Immunocore’s mTCR technology as well as a wealth of prior experience in the international biotech community. Former CFO of British Biotech, prior to leading Avidex for 7 years, James also sits as a non-executive director on the boards of GW Pharmaceuticals plc and Astaire Group plc (both listed on AIM) and the privately-held Axellis Limited plus quoted 3D Diagnostic Imaging plc.  He is also CEO of Adaptimmune Limited.

Bent Jakobsen, CSO

Dr Jakobsen founded Avidex in March 1999 and joined Avidex as full-time Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Board member in July 2000. Bent founded Avidex whilst he was at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) in Oxford, where he was head of the Immune Receptor Group from 1993 to July 2000. This group is recognised as one of the leading international laboratories in molecular immunology and is a world leader in recombinant immune receptor technology.  Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Fellow of the Danish Natural Research Council, Aarhus, Denmark. This followed three years as a Post-doctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of the Medical Research Council in Cambridge.

Dominic Smethurst, Group Medical Director

Dominic has ten years’ experience across all phases of drug development having previously worked at Amgen and AstraZeneca. He obtained his MRCP in 1999 working in the NHS and his Master of Arts/medical/surgical degrees from Cambridge. He has published peer-reviewed articles on various elements of scientific and clinical research including work in Nature and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Steve Megit, Head of Business Development

Having gained a PhD in molecular biology from Cardiff University, Steve Megit has spent 10 years working in biotech business development on a variety of small molecule and biological therapeutics.

Dr. Yvonne McGrath, Head of Development

Yvonne has worked in both small biotech and large pharma companies in the early development of small molecules, cell therapy and biologics for cancer and autoimmune disease. She obtained her PhD from the University of Wales, College of Medicine in 2000.