Dr Juliana Maynard

Chief Scientist, Translational Imaging and Radiopharmaceuticals

Juliana Maynard is an expert Imaging Scientist specialising in pre-clinical imaging technologies, which ultimately aims to advance innovative drug discovery, bringing medicines to patients, faster.

An enthusiastic, proactive, very committed and hard-working individual Juliana has worked with a broad range of imaging modalities including PET, SPECT, CT, ultrasound and MRI. She has a proven track record of research as evidenced in her publications across a wide range of disease and therapy areas.

She possesses good project management skills and has successfully delivered multiple projects with a strong delivery focus. She enjoys working across boundaries using her interpersonal skills to engage with customers and to “put an idea” into practice. Juliana has been based in the North West since earning her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2006.

She worked at the University of Manchester and then spent 9 years in increasingly senior roles at AstraZeneca. On leaving AstraZeneca, Juliana recognised the opportunity that medical imaging can have in improving and accelerating drug discovery and set up the creation of a commercial imaging service offering with the ambition to make this readily available for use across the UK drug discovery community.

Dr Benedetta Arno

Lead Scientist

Benedetta is an expert scientist with extensive research experience within academia and industry. She has experience in leading in vivo drug discovery projects, with the main focus on characterising complex medicines distribution and efficacy using a broad range of imaging modalities including PET, CT, optical imaging and ultrasound as well as ex vivo tissue analysis.

With great project management skills, she has successfully delivered multiple projects across a variety of diseases and therapeutic areas. Benedetta has a BSc in biotechnology and MSc Hons in biomedical science before completing her PhD in Neuroscience.

Dr Lynne Braidwood

Business Development Manager

Lynne joined Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) in 2021 as part of the Business Development Team. She supports MDC’s capabilities in Cellular Sciences, Translational Imaging, and Biomarkers. In this role, Lynne collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms, SMEs, and academic researchers, helping them develop and execute studies by leveraging MDC’s expertise, technology, and wet lab capabilities.

Lynne has a strong research background in oncology and virology. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Oncolytic Viruses in combination with targeted anti-cancer agents from the Centre of Virus Research at the University of Glasgow.

Lynne was a scientist at the Beatson CRUK labs and then with small biotech company developing an oncolytic virus, which sponsored her PhD. Her role within the company transitioned from a lab-based scientist to a business development role, where she played a key role in the company’s acquisition by a major US biotech firm. Since then, Lynne has worked in commercial roles within the Life Sciences sector before joining Medicines Discovery Catapult.