Roslin Tech Announce Dr Deepika Rajesh as Chief Science Officer
October 3, 2023 - 4 min read
Roslin Technologies, a life science company in Edinburgh focused on cultivated meat, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Deepika Rajesh to the role of Chief Scientific Officer. Deepika brings a wealth of stem cell experience to the company. Her appointment reflects Roslin Technologies’ commitment to advancing its animal stem cell platform for the emerging cultivated meat sector and ensures that robust science is at the heart of the company.
Deepika has worked with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for over 25 years to develop impactful solutions for human health. While at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, she collaborated with James Thomson (University of Madison), who is best known for deriving the first human embryonic stem cells in 1998 and for deriving iPSCs in 2007. Subsequently, she joined Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) as one of the first employees and later became Senior Director, and Scientific Head of R&D Discovery Research. CDI was acquired by Fujifilm and is now one of the leading iPSC companies globally. Most recently she was the Vice President of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Immunology at Notch Therapeutics and led the R&D program on generating iPSC derived T cells for cell therapy applications.
During her career, Deepika has been involved in the reprogramming and generation of hundreds of stem cell lines and led extensive programs to generate multiple cell types from iPSC for drug discovery and therapeutic applications. She has managed multidisciplinary teams and strategic collaborations. She holds a PhD in Applied Biology from the University of Mumbai, and she has been awarded more than 25 granted and pending applications patents worldwide in the field of stem cell biology.
Ernst van Orsouw, CEO of Roslin Technologies, said “I am incredibly excited that Deepika is joining us. We strive to be the leader in animal stem cell innovation for cultivated meat. To reach commercial viability, significant scientific progress is needed. Deepika brings us experience and leadership capabilities that will accelerate our scientific programs and help us make our customers successful.”
Commenting on her appointment, Deepika said “I am delighted to be joining the team at Roslin Tech. The biological and engineering challenges for cultivated meat are significant. I have experienced how biological hurdles can be overcome and believe the impact of this technology on our food system can be transformative.”
Deepika will relocate with her husband in October 2023 and will be based at Roslin Technologies’ facilities in Edinburgh.
//ends
About Roslin Technologies Limited (Roslin Tech)
Roslin Technologies is a life science company based in Edinburgh. The company’s core capabilities lie indeveloping and commercialising animal stem cells for the nascent cultivated meat industry. In 2017, Roslin Technologies was spun out from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, the place where Dolly the Sheep was born in the late 90s. Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell which was a major breakthrough in stem cell innovation. Roslin Technologies aims to build on that legacy.
Cultivated meat is meat grown directly from animal cells without the need to raise animals. It offers the promise to improve animal welfare, lower antibiotics use, and reduce the environmental footprint of meat production. The cultivated meat sector is rapidly growing with over 150 companies active today and with billions of dollars of investment committed. To deliver on the promise, cultivated meat needs to deliver a great sensory experience and production cost needs to come down. High quality cell lines are needed to make cultivated meat safe, affordable, and nutritious.
Roslin Technologies has developed pluripotent animal stem cells with the capacity to self-renew indefinitely and differentiate into desired end-tissues for the cultivated meat industry. The company makes these cells available to cultivated meat producers globally and currently ships its cells to customers in North America, Europe, and Asia.
About cultivated meat
Cultivated meat is meat grown directly from animal cells in a bioreactor without the need to raise animals. The promise is massive: it can improve animal welfare, lower antibiotics use and reduce the environmental footprint of meat production. To make cultivated meat viable, it needs to be safe, nutritious and affordable and to achieve that costs needs to come down. Cells are the starting point for cultivated meat and impact each step of the production process. High quality cells have great proliferation capacity, grow fast and efficiently, and can be differentiated in the desired end tissues, i.e., fat and muscle. Roslin Technologies focuses on pluripotent stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells) that self renew for ever and can differentiate into any tissue.
