mRNA — Powering Life Changing Therapies

Dr. Andrew Geall is Replicate Bioscience's Chief Development Officer and co-founder. With over 20 years of experience in developing drug delivery systems, he is a pioneer in mRNA vaccines and nucleic acid delivery. He holds 505 patent applications and 203 issued patents in multiple jurisdictions.

Before Replicate, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at Precision NanoSystems Inc., where he worked on creating nanoparticle medicines using LNP delivery systems and microfluidic formulation platform. He also held positions at Avidity Biosciences and Novartis, where he led the development of mRNA vaccines platform and led the Global siRNA Formulation Team. Dr. Geall obtained his pharmacy degree and a PhD from the University of Bath in the UK.

Conner is the strategy manager for emerging modalities. He is responsible for the strategy development and positioning of the mRNA analytical development and biosafety testing portfolio.

He holds a B.S. in genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA in strategy and leadership from Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Jay Sterling is the Global Business Lead, Product Characterization. Jay’s main area of expertise is in the development of physiochemical methods designed to measure the critical quality attributes of drug products, including monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, nanoparticles, and gene therapy delivery vectors. Previously. he worked at a variety of small biotechnology, large pharmaceutical, and contract research companies (including Biolex Tx, GSK Vaccines, and Catalent). Jay received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Georgia.

Bastian Rouven Brückner is the Head of Operations at our mRNA production site in Hamburg. Bastian’s main area of expertise is the mRNA production based on a PCR workflow. He was responsible for the establishment of a new GMP facility for mRNA production at mid-scale.

Before joining AmpTec GmbH (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany), he demonstrated broad expertise in cell biophysics and molecular biology by publishing in several peer-reviewed journals. Bastian holds an M.Sc with distinction in chemistry and a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Goettingen University.

Aditi Mehta heads the mRNA Process & Delivery labs at Merck. In this role, she is mainly responsible for the development of novel, innovative solutions for mRNA synthesis – at various scales – and the development of state-of-the-art excipients for mRNA delivery.

Before joining Merck in 2020, Aditi worked as a postdoc and group leader at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, focusing on pulmonary delivery of nucleic acids.