Following a successful secondment to OneNorthEast to lead a series of activities to enhance the Regional success in accessing European framework funding, Janet returned to a part-time senior management role at Teesside Universiry in September 2007. A Professor of Biotechnology and Food Science, she has worked in the NHS, in the Food manufacturing sector. As a qualified teacher she has worked in all branches of education except primary.
She is an experienced reviewer of research and funding proposals and reviews for the Research Councils, DTI and European Commission. Formerly Dean of Science and Technology she led the University to gain Investors in People (IIP) accreditation across the entire Institution. She was then seconded to a University spin-off Company, EPICC (European Process Industry Competitiveness Centre) and over 30 months, turned the business around from a deficit in funding and outputs to a healthy profit.
Janet has had many senior Government Advisory roles including former Chair of Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP), Member of EPSRC Council, member of Advisory Committee on releases to the Environment (ACRE) and Chair /member of several Foresight Committees.
Currently she Chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee On Genetic Modification (Contained Use), she is a member of the Borderline substances review group (MHRA), the New and Emerging Infections Panel and a trustee of the charity Sense About Science. Regionally she is a member of the Science and Industry Council and a Board member of IPPR (North). Since April, 2007, Janet has been a Board member of the Agriculture and Horticulture Advisory Council, she leads on research co-ordination and is Chair of the potato sector company.
Gary Burns is currently a biosafety adviser for AstraZeneca UK Ltd and has been employed in this role since 1999. He previously followed an academic career in biochemistry and molecular biology for nearly twenty years before joining the Health and Safety Executive as one of HM Inspectors of Health and Safety in 1993. In 1996, he transferred to a specialist role with HSE in the Genetic Modification Section of what is now HSE's Biological Agents Corporate Topic Group where his duties involved ensuring compliance with legislation governing both contained use and deliberate release activities. In addition to inspecting locations where these activities were carried out, Gary was also involved in providing advice and in drafting formal guidance on this topic. He was awarded a PhD by the University of Manchester in 1972 and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Health and Safety from Aston University in 1994. Gary was a member of the Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification from December 2000, and of the associated Technical Sub-Committee from May 2001, until they were terminated at the end of 2003.
Dr John Carr is head of the molecular virology group at the University of Cambridge. The long-term objective of the group is to understand why some plants are able to actively resist microbial pathogens, while others remain susceptible. John's research interests are focused in three areas: Signal transduction pathways in the induction of resistance to plant pathogens. The structure and protein composition of the replication complexes of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). The role of viral counter-defence in determining the outcome of plant-microbe interactions.
Dr Martin Carrier obtained a BSc in Biochemistry at Bristol University and his PhD at King's College London. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Paris, he went on to spend 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, where his main interest was in the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease. He then returned to academia at the William Harvey Research Institute, Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine where he has been for the last 10 years. He divides his time between teaching and research. He has an overall responsibility for GM activities within Queen Mary College.
Dr Peter Coyle is a Consultant Virologist at the Regional Virus Laboratory at the Royal Group of Hospitals, Belfast. He is also a Honourary Lecturer at The Queen's University of Belfast Department of Microbiology, and Chair of the Royal Group of Hospitals Genetic Modification Safety Committee. Peter obtained his medical degree from Queen's University of Belfast in July 1979. He has been a member of the Royal College of Pathologists since 1985, and was awarded an MD (by thesis) from Queen's University in July 1993. Peter is a member of Royal College of Pathology's Virology CATT-B Training Committee, and the Health Protection Agency's HIV Diagnostic Forum, as well as its Expert SARS Advisory Group. His principal interest is in Respiratory Tract Infections. He was a member of the ACGM TSC for a short period prior to being invited to serve on the SACGM.
Professor Martin Gore is Medical Director of the Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London where he is also Medical Director for the Rare Cancers Division and Head of the Melanoma Unit. His main interests are melanoma, renal cell cancer and ovarian cancer, and he is Chair of the NCRI Melanoma Clinical Studies Group. Over the last 17 years, Martin has continued to develop his interests in drug development, particularly in the field of biological therapies and gene therapy. Martin is Chair of the Department of Health's Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use). He chaired the Committee for Clinical Research at the Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer for 12 years. Martin also co-chairs the Joint Sub committee on the Retroviral Safety and the Gene Therapy Working Party, and is on the Editorial Board of a number of journals. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and has published over 300 articles and has edited 6 textbooks.
Professor Ernest Gould has been a virologist for approximately 35 years, studying in Liverpool, moving to Birmingham, Belfast, London and finally, Oxford. He originally worked with orthomyxoviruses and paramyxoviruses, such as influenza and measles but for the past 25 years, his interests have focused on the arboviruses, with emphasis on the flaviviruses such as yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis virus. He has also worked with alphaviruses and bunyaviruses as well as with non-arboviruses such as the rabbit caliciviruses, all of which have become more prominent with the increasing interest in emerging viruses. His group recently demonstrated that African viruses such as West Nile, Usutu and Sindbis virus are being introduced into the UK via migratory birds. Ernest's areas of research cover virus epidemiology, pathogenesis, evolution, diagnosis and control. In 2002, he retired as the Director of CEH Oxford (formerly the Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology) and is now a Senior Research Fellow in the Institute. He has been a member of several advisory committees including, ACDP, ACZOO, and is currently a member of the University of Oxford Safety Committee and the equivalent committees in CEH. Ernest also advises on the containment level 4 laboratory in Lyon, France. He has published approximately 150 peer reviewed papers and written many reviews and book chapters.
Dr Penny Hirsch is a Principal Research Scientist at Rothamstead Research Centre, where she is the leader of the Soil Microbial Ecology Group. Her main interests are in soil microbial ecology and microbial gene transfer, including the survival of laboratory grown bacteria and fungi in the environment; the ecology of microbes involved in nutrient cycling in soil; bacterial plasmids and bacteriophages, and soil as a resevoir of genes and of potential pathogens. Penny has been a member of the Advisory Committee on Releases into the Environment (ACRE) since 1999, and was a member of the ACGM and its Technical Sub-Committee, until its replacement by SACGM. She was biological safety officer at Rothamstead between 1986 and 1996.
Dr Keith Howard completed his PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine after a study of changes in gene expression during the life cycle of the parasitic trypanosome, Leishmania donovani. Following six years postdoctoral work on in vitro models of herpes simplex virus (HSV) latency and development of HSV vectors in the group of Professor David Latchman at University College London, Keith joined Cantab Pharmaceuticals Ltd (now Xenova Plc) where he adapted the company's DISC HSV vaccine for use in the treatment of neurological disease. From 2002, he was Head of Molecular Virology and Vector Development at Oxxon Therapeutics Ltd, (formerly Oxxon Pharmaccines Ltd), directing the development of innovative recombinant poxvirus vectors for the treatment of chronic infections and cancer. Currently, he is Head of the Preclinical Research Group at Baxter AG in Orth, Austria supporting the manufacture of vaccines for interpandemic and avian influenza.
Dr David Lewis is a Consultant Physician and Senior lecturer in the Medical School at St. Georges Hospital, London, specialising in in infectious diseases, and the development of novel vaccines. After qualifying in medicine from the University of Wales, David obtained an MSc in medical microbiology, and a PhD for his research on HIV in infected patients. He was awarded an MD in 1994, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1998. Much of David's research has focussed on the development of vaccines, and he has conducted a number of clinical trials with recombinant enteric bacteria, including Shigella and Salmonella. David has carried out a number of phase 1 clinical trials using live bacterial vaccines, and is the clinical trials coordinator of the EC 6th Framework programme 'MUVAPRED' which is evaluating novel mucosal vaccines. David is the Deputy Director of the St George's Vaccine Institute, and is responsible for day to day running of the facilities including clinical isolation rooms and containment laboratories. David is currently on a Working Party of the Academy of Medical Sciences, drawing up guidelines for researchers involved in human challenge studies using pathogens.
After obtaining his degree in Biochemistry from Oxford, Dr Philip Minor studied for a PhD at the ICRF in London, before undertaking post-doctoral research on influenza virus at the University of Warwick. He joined NIBSC as a virologist where he has worked for over 25 years. Philip has been Head of the Division of Virology for the last 15 years. During this time, he has worked on vaccine development and its regulation, both nationally and internationally through the World Health Organisation. He has extensive experience of the application of molecular biology to virology regulation and pathogenesis, particularly working on poliovirus virulence, attenuation, epidemiology, antigenic structure and receptor sites. Philip has extensive experience of working on a wide range of committees, including the ACDP, various WHO expert committees, and the UK Committee on Adverse Reactions to Vaccination and Immunisation. He is a former editor of the Journal of General Virology, and is currently the editor of Biologicals. Philip has over 180 publications.
After obtaining a BSc in Chemistry and Zoology from the University of London, and an MSc in Applied Immunology from Brunel, Robert Osborne spent 16 years working at the Animal Virus Research Institute at Pirbright. After leaving Pirbright, he moved to the University of Glagow to work as a Research Fellow in the MRC Retrovirus research laboratory in the Department of Veterinary Pathology. Since 1994 Robert has worked as the University Biological Safety Adviser, responsible for all aspects of biosafety management within the University, encompassing all aspects of working with pathogenic agents and genetically modified organisms. He was formerly a member of the ACGM and is an active member of the European Biosafety Association.
Brian Robertson studied Zoology at the University of Edinburgh, before undertaking a PhD in Parasitology at Imperial College London. He then switched to molecular microbiology and worked on Neisseria gonorrhoeae for 5 years at the Max-Planck-Institut in Germany. On returning to the UK, he worked on both Neisseria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis at Imperial College London, where he is now a Senior Lecturer in the department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology in the Faculty of Medicine. His main interest is pathogen biology and the interaction with the host organism. He served as chair of the local GMSC and on the ACGM for two years.
Dr Peter Searle obtained his BA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University, and completed his PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London. He undertook postdoctoral studies in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, before returning to the University of Birmingham, where he is now a senior lecturer in the Cancer Research UK Institute for Cancer Studies. He has over 20 years' research experience with genetic modification techniques, and for the last 12 years has worked on cancer gene therapy, using retrovirus and adenovirus vectors. He has been Biological Safety Officer for the Institute for over 12 years, and is also Biological Safety Officer for the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, where he guided the establishment of gene therapy clinical trials.
Dr Mike Skinner studied Microbiology at the University of Leeds, followed by bacterial genetics and biochemistry for his PhD at the University of Leicester. He moved into the molecular biology of viruses, with postdoctoral positions on coronaviruses (Würzburg, Germany), poliovirus (Leicester and Reading) and HIV (MRC-LMB, Cambridge) before joining the Institute for Animal Health as a group leader to work on avian poxviruses. Since then he has also worked on avian leukosis virus and a birnavirus. His scientific interests are virus-host interactions and vaccines. At the IAH, Mike was a long-serving member of the local GMSC, having also served as chair and Biological Safety Officer. Mike is group leader on avian pox virus research at Imperial College, London.