Shift Bioscience Announces Key Appointments to Advance Rejuvenation Therapeutics Pipeline

• Jill Reckless (CEO, RxCelerate) appointed as Translation Advisor
• Laurence Reid joins as Non-Executive Director, previously Decibel Therapeutics, Warp Drive Bio, Alnylam, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shift Bioscience, a biotech company using an AI powered virtual cell to fight age-related diseases, today announced the appointments of Jill Reckless, Ph.D, as Translation Advisor and Laurence Reid, Ph.D., as Non-Executive Director. In these roles, Jill and Laurence will guide Shift in building a robust product translation and business development strategy respectively, enabling the Company to capitalize on early momentum and progress its pipeline of novel rejuvenation therapeutics towards clinical development.

Following the Company’s recent expansion into North America¹, these appointments will further strengthen Shift’s position, providing expert guidance and strategic insights to leverage the Company’s AI powered virtual cell platform and accelerate its growth plans.

As Translation Advisor, Jill will work closely with Shift’s therapeutic translation team, to guide indication selection based on proof-of-concept data and therapeutic modalities suited to rejuvenation biology. In his role as non-Executive Director, Laurence will support the design and implementation of an effective business development framework, supporting company growth and harnessing advances in proof-of-concept data by strengthening product and commercial strategy.

Jill brings more than 20 years of expertise in translational biology, having successfully led drug discovery programs across a broad range of therapeutic indications and therapeutic modalities. Jill is currently the CEO and Co-founder of RxCelerate, where she has supported the company from start-up to establishing it as a leading provider of drug discovery and development services. She has worked closely with companies to design and execute complex therapeutic discovery pipelines. Jill holds a Ph.D. from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, and spent over a decade as an academic as part of the Department of Medicine at University of Cambridge.

Laurence is an accomplished biotech entrepreneur, serving multiple C-Suite roles throughout his 30 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industries, specializing in strategic planning to advance new discovery platforms for clinical translation and financing. Laurence has held several executive positions within the industry, serving as CEO at Decibel Therapeutics (acquired by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals) and Warp Drive Bio (merged with Revolution Medicines), as well as senior executive and business development roles at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Now focusing his expertise in advisory, non-executive roles, Laurence sits on the Board of several companies, including KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Garuda Therapeutics and Broken String Biosciences. Laurence holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from King’s College, London.

Jill Reckless, Ph.D., CEO RxCelerate and Translation Advisor for Shift Bioscience, commented: “Age is a major driver of such a huge array of diseases, and yet, from a therapeutic point of view, our understanding of how to tackle it is extremely limited. Shift’s technology has clear potential to address this crucial gap, and I look forward to supporting the team as Translation Advisor, helping to explore new indications and triage promising new rejuvenation targets to combat disease."

Laurence Reid, Ph.D., Non-Executive Director, Shift Bioscience, said: “Shift Bioscience’s virtual cell platform has the potential to revolutionize how we approach age-related disease – fully leveraging the power of AI to identify new therapeutic targets and combat a broad range of indications with growing unmet need. I’m pleased to be joining Shift at a pivotal point in its development, and to offer my experiences to help as we advance therapeutic programs into the clinic and to market.”

1) Shift Bioscience establishes North American facilities