Dr Francesca Sadler

Francesca Sadler has 20 years’ commercial experience in the drug discovery and development field.

Francesca started her career as a Clinical Scientist working at the Public Health Laboratory Service (now part of Public Health England) researching meningococcal disease. Following a rewarding early career in the laboratory, Francesca moved into the commercial arena, most recently serving as Chief Commercial Officer and Board Member at Charnwood Discovery. This follows a distinguished career in key roles at leading drug discovery companies including Eurofins Discovery, Cyprotex, Aptuit and Charles River Discovery.

Francesca gained her PhD in microbiology and molecular biology from Manchester Metropolitan University and an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School.

Francesca joined MDC in 2025 as Chief Commercial Officer, bringing extensive experience in sales and marketing within the discovery and development services field, and is responsible for delivering MDC’s commercial strategy across the business, supporting MDC’s mission in reshaping drug discovery for patient benefit.

Dr Martin Main

An ion channel electrophysiologist by training, Martin has spent over 30 years working in the pharmaceutical industry in organisations including Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.

An accomplished scientist with over 35 publications and 2 patents and a broad range of experience ranging from target validation and reagent generation, through assay development and mechanism-of-action studies, Martin brings a breadth of experience to his role as Chief Scientific Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC).

After gaining his PhD in Cardiac Physiology from the University of London, Martin joined the University of Leeds as a Postdoctoral Scientist before beginning a 25-year stint in large pharma. Starting his career with Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, Martin then held several leadership roles at AstraZeneca, most recently as Director of Discovery Biology from 2011 to 2018.

Martin sits on the Scientific Advisory Board for the University of Nottingham Biodiscovery Institute and is a member of the Astbury Centre Industry Advisory Board. He has previously held roles on the ELRIG General Committee and SLAS Editorial Board.

Martin joined MDC in 2018 as Head of Molecular Technologies, taking on the role of Chief Scientist in 2022. In his current role as Chief Scientific Officer at MDC, Martin is accountable for the development and delivery of MDC’s science strategy, with oversight of all laboratory activities to ensure MDC continues to deliver upon our vision of reshaping drug discovery for patient benefit.