Neil Renault
Neil joined IBioIC in August 2017 as facility manager for FlexBIO, its bioprocessing scale-up facility hosted at Heriot-Watt University, and is now Director of Bioprocessing Scale-Up. He holds strategic responsibility for the facility, covering business development and client scoping, costing and contracts, capital investment and the partnerships that keep it busy. Reporting to the CEO, he ensures operational delivery of facility provision, resourcing, timing and pipeline project targets are all met and aligned with IBioIC’s remit to accelerate commercialisation of industrial biotechnology projects across industry and academia.
Alongside the day to day running of FlexBIO, Neil works with the wider innovation centre, universities, funders and regulators to position the facility within the UK and European scale-up landscape. FlexBIO is a part of the Heriot-watt delivery partner in the RESILIENCE Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellence and a member of Pilots4U, the European network of open-access scale-up facilities, and Neil chairs Heriot-Watt’s Genetically Modified Material Commitee. He is also active with IChemE’s Biochemical Engineering Special Interest Group, helping to programme events and bursaries for the bioprocessing community.
Training and skills are a particular focus. Neil has built out FlexBIO’s hands-on training provision and is a strong advocate for giving Scotland’s early career scientists and engineers real time on pilot-scale kit, rather than learning bioprocessing from a textbook. He places the same emphasis on developing his own team, supporting technicians and scientists to take on more responsibility and broaden their technical range.
Previously having worked in industry for 8 years, Neil managed an R&D project within a GMP-regulated environment. His previous role was for Scottish-based diagnostic biomanufacturing firm Quotient (now Alive DX) as a senior scientist and lab manager, bringing a diagnostic chip for blood transfusion (‘MosaiQ’) from proof of concept through to full validated manufacture.
Neil studied his BSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Kent, where he is originally from. During his degree he did a sandwich year in a bioprocess development group at Pfizer, focusing on downstream purification and analytical method development. His PhD was at the University of Nottingham, developing a diagnostic protein microarray for antibody-specific food allergy testing.
