Fernanda is a Chemical Engineering with a Masters and PhD in Biochemical Engineering from University College London (UK). As Head of Manufacturing Innovation for Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult she helps deliver exciting projects that aim to accelerate implementation and deployment of innovative technology with the ultimate goal of more ATMPs reaching the market and increased patient access. She’s interested in novel tools and technologies which span from automation and control to digital emerging technologies as well as new services.
Early on at UCL, her research interest focused on small scale predictive tools for downstream processing for cell therapies. Fernanda worked briefly in cryopreservation of human cells for therapies and then moved to the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) as a Process Development Engineer. At CCRM, and as part of the GE Healthcare (now Cytiva) partnership, she worked on upstream scalable production of human pluripotent stem cells in suspension for cardiac differentiation to downstream processing of lentivirus using stable inducible cell lines.
She worked as a Technology Expert for Regenerative Medicine at Sartorius where she helped to accelerate development and manufacture of cell and gene therapies, making them more readily accessible to patients all over the world. She then worked as a Solutions Manager for iPSCs (also at Sartorius) where she was responsible for developing and implementing a global portfolio of tools and services specifically geared to iPSC customers. She joined the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in March 2021 as the Head of Commercial for the Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Stevenage, where she was supporting collaborators and other UK CGT manufacturing developers with innovative solutions for specific manufacturing and supply chain bottlenecks.
Early on at UCL, her research interest focused on small scale predictive tools for downstream processing for cell therapies. Fernanda worked briefly in cryopreservation of human cells for therapies and then moved to the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) as a Process Development Engineer. At CCRM, and as part of the GE Healthcare (now Cytiva) partnership, she worked on upstream scalable production of human pluripotent stem cells in suspension for cardiac differentiation to downstream processing of lentivirus using stable inducible cell lines.
She worked as a Technology Expert for Regenerative Medicine at Sartorius where she helped to accelerate development and manufacture of cell and gene therapies, making them more readily accessible to patients all over the world. She then worked as a Solutions Manager for iPSCs (also at Sartorius) where she was responsible for developing and implementing a global portfolio of tools and services specifically geared to iPSC customers. She joined the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult in March 2021 as the Head of Commercial for the Manufacturing Innovation Centre in Stevenage, where she was supporting collaborators and other UK CGT manufacturing developers with innovative solutions for specific manufacturing and supply chain bottlenecks.