Chris Sadler

Astrea Bioseparations Ltd, Cambridge — R&D Resin Development Lead

February 2024 – Present

R&D leader overseeing multifunctional teams and liaising closely with Product and Project Management, commercial team and end users to translate product concepts into deliverable products. Contributing to the Product Delivery Road Map to co-ordinate New Product Introduction (NPI’s) and applications for existing products to support attainment of company revenue objectives.

• Supported development of corporate 5-year strategy
• Expanded Astrea’s resin product portfolio to enable growth in target therapeutic arenas
• Provided extensive support to commercial team with end user challenges
• Led training for Sales, R&D and Field Application Specialist teams

2024

Astrea Bioseparations Ltd, Cambridge — Chemistry Subject Matter Expert / Functional Manager

May 2021 – February 2024

Senior member of R&D department supporting cross functional project teams in technical, commercial and project control aspects of process optimisation, product development, technology transfer and production support.  In particular contributing vast experience in manufacturing process development for downstream purification chromatography media to GMP level for Cell and Gene Therapy applications including mRNA, pDNA and viral vector purification.

•  Mentoring and training Research Scientists and Assistants across the R&D department.
• Responsible for building and maintaining operational processes within the R&D department.
• Supported the commercial team with new client project conception, and technical support for end users.
• Recruitment to support expansion of the department into CGT arena and internalisation of key enabling technology.

2021

Astrea Bioseparations Ltd, Cambridge — Chemistry Research Manager

October 2015 – May 2021

Managed the Chemistry Team as part of the wider Research and Development department. Built a team composed of 5 Research Scientists and 3 Research Assistants to support product development, process optimisation, and scaleup of chromatography adsorbent products for purification of plasma derived therapeutics.

• Oversaw development and technology transfer of 12 products manufactured routinely at over 200 L scale at GMP level.
• Developed and implemented procedures for project management and design control in new product development adhering to ISO 9001 standards.
• Developed and implemented Quality by Design (QbD) approach to new process investigation at the company. Improved process robustness and significantly reduced frequency of deviations and batch failures in Production.
• Improved document management structure in R&D using SharePoint Online and training staff across R&D in best practice for documentation and report writing.
• Assisted Quality and Regulatory team in supplier audits including travel to supplier sites across Europe to de-risk raw material supply.

2015

Prometic Bioseparations Ltd, Cambridge — Chemistry Research Scientist

June 2014 – October 2015

Project lead for internal projects developing adsorbents for purification of plasma derived proteins. Oversaw recruitment, training and mentoring for five temporary research assistants brought in to support high throughput screening activities.

• Developed strong project management skills as project lead for multiple internal projects working with internal international clients.
• Became go-to R&D member for production support items from the manufacturing site on the Isle of Man.
• Led an international cross-functional team to investigate variation in the consistency of agarose raw material supply.