About Us

👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 We are led and advised by a team of outstanding scientists and entrepreneurs, with partners around the globe supporting the need for our solution. Our technology is set to evolutionise protein production, to benefit multiple sectors globally.

💰 Our pre-spin-out operations are based at the University of Helsinki (Finland) using funds that we have successfully raised from Business Finland, The Finnish Cultural Foundation Ester and Uuno Koki Fund and the University of Helsinki.

🚀 Launched in January 2024, MITOGUARDER® is a research-driven innovation project dedicated to breaking production barriers across the biotechnology industry. We are geared to bring the benefits of our precision engineered technology to market in 2026.

Our Team

Our Story

In 2023, two scientists at the University of Helsinki (Finland) joined forces to solve a long-standing bottleneck in recombinant protein production. By combining their distinct areas of scientific expertise, Dr Brendan J. Battersby and Dr Sarah O'Keefe developed the MITOGUARDER® innovation project. Backed by several funding sources, Our Team's pre-spin-out R&D and commercialisation activities are set to evolutionise multiple sectors across the biotechnology industry.

Who Are We?

We are a diverse team of international scientists and entrepreneurs. Get to know Our Team and Board more here.

Brendan J. Battersby, PhD

Project Co-Lead

Sarah O'Keefe, PhD

Project Co-Lead

Kah Ying Ng, PhD

Senior R&D Scientist

Tania Vane-Tempest, PhD

Principal Scientist

Laura Juhola, MSc (Econ)

Commercial Lead

Our Board

Stephen High, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Biochemistry, University of Manchester (UK)

Richard Zimmermann, PhD

Professor Emeritus, Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saarland University (DE)

Joen Luirink, PhD

CSO, Co-Founder, Abera Bioscience (SE) & Department Head, Group Leader in Molecular Biology, Vrije University, Amsterdam (NL)

Murray J. Costello

Founder, Managing Director, Pineapple Nation Ltd (UK)

Terence Lewis, FRCS MBE

Chairman, Peninsula Medical Foundation (UK)

We are advised by an esteemed international Board with deep expertise in protein production, business development and chairmanship.

Our Academic Partners

Bottlenecks in recombinant protein production hamper academic research and knowledge discovery around the world. The need for our innovative solution is supported by leading academic researchers that have partnered with us to test our technology.