Dr Adriana Gambardella

Adriana joined Medicines Discovery Catapult in 2023 as part of the Virtual Research and Development team to help SMEs develop their strategies and re-disk their programmes.

With extensive research experience within academia and industry (both CROs and biotech companies), working on translational research and drug discovery programmes across different disease areas, from cancer immunology to inflammation and fibrosis. Following a PhD in BioMolecular Science and Biotechnology at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Italy, she moved to UK for her post-doctoral fellowships (first on inflammation and liver fibrosis at the University of Edinburgh (SCRM), then on Haematology and Stem cell biology at the University of Oxford (WIMM).

In 2016, she joined Immunocore where she used her NGS and flow cytometry expertise to lead the work of her team of scientist and bioinformatics in the Target Validation group to identify new cancer targets. After a couple of years working at Concept Life Science as the Immunology Department Leader, where she gained commercial experience, she joined Redx where she worked as drug discovery Project Leader for the fibrosis and immunology programs and Lead Translational scientist for the most advanced programs: Ph1 study in Chron’s disease and the Ph2a study in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Johnny Habchi

Johnny is a leader in Life Sciences R&D with extensive experience spanning academia, biotech and consultancy.

Johnny began his career in academic research where he secured prestigious fellowships and led pioneering initiatives at top Universities, including the University of Cambridge. He then pursued several executive education programmes in management, R&D strategy and digital transformation at INSEAD, Cambridge Judge Business School and Imperial College Business School.

Johnny went on to co-found and scale a biotech startup that secured tens of millions in funding. In this role he built and managed high‑performance teams and developed and scaled proprietary assays and technologies that accelerated timelines from target identification to candidate nomination. He led several R&D programs, both internally and in collaboration with global pharma, provided consulting services to multiple drug discovery and biotech clients, and established strategic partnerships at the interface between academia and industry.

His work to date has yielded over 50 peer‑reviewed publications and patented technologies in drug discovery across multiple therapeutic areas. Johnny combines data-driven decision making, operational efficiency and R&D strategy to help clients scale platforms, reduce timelines and optimise discovery portfolios. An accomplished communicator and thought leader, Johnny has been invited to speak and serve on panels at numerous international conferences and has served on editorial and PhD committees internationally. He also holds a fellowship and supports entrepreneurial activities at Hughes Hall College, Cambridge, underscoring his commitment to science and innovation.