Specialities: Bioprocess Decisional Tools, Bioprocess Economics, Drug Development Cost Modelling, Capacity planning, Portfolio Management, Risk Analysis, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Multi-Objective Simulation & Optimisation, Chemometrics

Suzanne leads research on novel software-based ‘Bioprocess Decisional Tools’ to plan the best route to manufacture of new biotherapeutic candidates. More specifically, she has pioneered the design of novel algorithms at the process-business interface to facilitate cost-effective bioprocess design, capacity planning, and R&D portfolio management through to predictive tools for root cause analysis and manufacturability assessments. These tools have been applied to strategic decisions in the development and manufacture of protein biopharmaceuticals such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and of cell and gene therapies (e.g. MSCs, CAR T-cells, viral vectors). Examples include batch versus continuous manufacture, in-house versus contract manufacturing decisions, factory floor scheduling, centralised versus decentralised manufacture of personalised therapies, facility fit prediction and root cause analysis of deviations in critical quality attributes. 

As Professor of Bioprocess Systems Engineering at UCL, Suzanne is Co-Director of the EPSRC-funded Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub in collaboration with industrial and academic consortia to revolutionise the delivery of cost-effective stratified protein-based and personalised cell-based therapies to patients.  She is also Director of the UCL-AstraZeneca Centre of Excellence on predictive decision-support tools for enhanced bioprocess design, operation and economics. Previously she was Co-Director of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Emergent Macromolecular Therapies. Funding for her research has come from the UKRI, Innovate UK, Gates Foundation, H2020 and a range of company collaborators including AstraZeneca, GSK, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Bayer, Lonza Biologics, and Pall Life Sciences. In addition the Future Targeted Healthcare Manufacturing Hub is supported by a User Steering Committee of over 45 industrial users and sector organisations.

Suzanne has been invited to chair the highest profile conference of the discipline, Recovery of Biological Products Conference XIX (2022), as well as international pioneering conferences in emerging areas including the ECI Integrated Continuous Biomanufacturing Conference (2017, 2015). She has been invited to give keynotes at prestigious international conferences (e.g. ACS); to join scientific expert panel committees for the national agenda and to join thought leadership networks set up by industry. Suzanne has also been invited to join policy dialogues with UK Government bodies including a roundtable on the UK’s implementation of the G7100 Days Mission. Suzanne sits on the UK BioIndustry Association Manufacturing Advisory Committee and ISCT Business Models and Investment Sub Committee. Suzanne featured in The Manufacturer and KTN’s 30 Inspiring Women in Manufacturing in 2020 and the Medicine Maker Power List in 2017 and 2016.