Tim Harris (born 11 May 1950) is a

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

who is a science and business leader who has led laboratory work,

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

s and companies in a range of research activities in the

Biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

Industry since 1978.

Early life and education

Harris was brought up in the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire. ...

west of London and is the son of Dr. RJC Harris who was a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and cancer research scientist and who was at ICRF and later ran the Microbiological Research Establishment at Porton Down in the 1970s. Harris was educated at

Uppingham school Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...

and obtained a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

and a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

Molecular Virology Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

with Prof

Peter Wildy Norman Peter Leete Wildy (31 March 1920 – 10 March 1987) was a 20th-century British virologist who was an expert on the herpes simplex virus. Education and personal life He was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent on 31 March 1920 the son of Eric ...

at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. He was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

for his work in Biotechnology from his alma mater in 2010.

Work

Harris was EVP of Research & Development at

Bioverativ Bioverativ Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company that specializes in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of haemophilia. Bioverativ competes with Baxalta (acquired by Shire Plc in 2016), Pfi ...

. From 2011 to 2016, He worked as SVP Translational Medicine at

Biogen Biogen Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases to patients worldwide. History ...

. He was CEO of SGX Pharmaceuticals from 1999 to 2006, VP R&D at Sequana Therapeutics (1993-1999), and Director of the Advanced Technology Program and CTO at SAIC-Frederick, Inc. (2007-2011). He began his scientific career working in the UK on animal viruses at the Animal Virus Research Institute at

Pirbright Pirbright ( ) is a village in Surrey, England. Pirbright is in the borough of Guildford and has a civil parish council covering the traditional boundaries of the area. Pirbright contains one buffered sub-locality, Stanford Common near the nati ...

and spent one year (1976-1977) at

SUNY Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...

working with Dr. E Wimmer on polio virus. Dr. Harris was one of the first molecular biologists to be employed at the UK Biotech company

Celltech Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Celltech was founded by Gerard Fairtlough in 1980 with financ ...

(now UCB Pharma) (1981-1989). Dr Harris was Director of Biotechnology at Glaxo Group Research (Now GSK) (1989-1993). He is presently the EVP of

Corporate Development Corporate development refers to the planning and execution of strategies to meet organizational objectives. The kinds of activities falling under corporate development may include management team recruitment, phasing in or out of markets or produc ...

at Repertoire Immune Medicines and a Venture Partner at SV Health Investors. Dr. Harris has founded Biotechnology companies including Caraway Therapeutics, a lysophagy company (2016) and Catamaran Bio (2019), a company developing NK cell therapeutics. He is currently on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of Phenome TX in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and Chairman of the SAB of both Carraway Therapeutics and Catamaran Bio and an observer on the Board of both companies. He is also a visiting professor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York. Dr Harris has published over 100 scientific papers and several reviews. Some of the most important include identifying genes involved in ALS using exome sequencing and finding risk factors associated with NMO. Most recently he has published on the importance of

T cell A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell r ...

s in SARS CoV-2 infection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Tim Living people 1950 births Molecular biologists People associated with the University of Birmingham People educated at Uppingham School Alumni of the University of Birmingham