CHAIN Biotechnology is a microbiome therapeutics company founded in 2014 by biotech entrepreneur Dr Edward Green and is based at MediCity Nottingham.

CHAIN develops live biotherapeutic products that can be delivered directly to the lower gastrointestinal tract.

Using our knowledge of the gut microbiota and expertise in engineering biology and fermentation we have built a proprietary and highly differentiated  Clostridium Assisted Drug Delivery platform (CADDTM) for vaccine and therapeutic development.

CHAIN’s technology is based on a single, but highly effective, Clostridium strain engineered to deliver a specific therapeutic modality, whilst also secreting metabolites that play key roles in gut and immune system homeostasis. The engineered strains deliver and produce the therapeutics in situ during growth in the lower gastrointestinal tract, impacting on the mucosal immune system.

Clostridia are a dominant class of beneficial anaerobic bacteria found in the human gut and serve as an ideal live biotherapeutics delivery system, supporting oral drug delivery that is targeted, safe and controllable. In addition, our live biotherapeutics can be manufactured easily and cost-effectively and are highly stable with no need for cold chain logistics. We overcome many of the challenges associated with oral drug delivery.

Board and Management Team

Dr Matthew Duchars

Chief Executive Officer

Matthew has over 30 yrs experience of vaccine development in both the UK and US, with more than 15 years at executive level. He is the former CEO for the UK’s Vaccine Manufacturing Innovation Centre.

Dr Steve Emery

Chief Scientific Officer

Steve is the former Executive Director and Head of Global Due Diligence at AstraZeneca.
He has an extensive background in oncology research & development, with over 30 yrs experience in drug discovery & development.

Beckie Bown

Chief Financial Officer

Beckie is a chartered accountant with 20+ years of experience, with a background in pharma and biotech. She has significant experience of managing a finance function in fast growth businesses, including involvement in financing transactions and collaborative arrangements.

Dr Nel Moore

Board Chair

Nel has considerable experience in drug development with a track record taking therapeutics to market. She is former Global Product Vice President at AstraZeneca, where she built up and led the antibiotics development organisation as part of a semi-autonomous internal antibiotics business unit.

Dr Edward Green

Founder, Board Member

Edward is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years experience with anaerobic bacteria. He participates in the IB Leadership Forum, several NIBB management boards and advisory panels for Bioenergy and Biotechnology.

Zahid Bashir

Non-Executive Director

Zahid has over 16 years of clinical and drug development spanning Roche, BMS and Kite. He has overseen the successful regulatory approval of several innovative drugs, including cell and gene therapy products, in the US and Europe. 

Advisory Team

Dr Mark Edwards

Mark is a Molecular Biologist with 40 years experience in biotherapeutic research and development. Formerly CSO at British Biotech and Oxagen, his expertise ranges from metabolic pathway engineering to vaccine development.