Dr Natalie Kenny is the founder and CEO of BioGrad. A multi award winner in 2021, Dr Kenny is the current EVA’s Businesswoman of the Year, winner of The Business Desk top 50 City Region Leader for Liverpool and winner of The Business Desk’s North West Investment Award among many other accolades. As well as 2021’s award triumphs, Dr Kenny has been awarded the 2022 Liverpool Women In Business, Woman of the year Award and is nominated for Awards at both the Northern Power Women Awards and the Northern Leadership Awards for 2022.
Dr Kenny has a rich background in scientific research with experience of working in ‘big pharmaceutical’ research for Pfizer as well as research roles for St George’s School of Medicine based in the Amazon Jungle, St John Hopkins Medical School based in Peru and the University of Extremadura in Spain. Her doctorate from Cranfield University is in the field of Translational Medicine with specialisation in ‘New Therapeutics For Rheumatoid Arthritis And Childhood Leukaemia.’ Throughout her already successful career, Dr Natalie Kenny has also had the chance to work on Neurological research in Cambridge as well as Allergy and Respiratory Diseases research in Kent. With a clear ambition to provide gold standard scientific, laboratory and clinical training to the next generation, Dr Kenny has the technical know-how, career, and life experience to really make a difference to the lives of the future’s scientists and clinicians.
Zara leads the BioGrad Education Department here at Liverpool Science Park. Zara gained her BSc in Secondary Science Education with QTS after working in the Leisure Industry as a Duty Manager. During her time in the Leisure Industry and since, she has worked as a Lead Coach for Beth Tweddle Gymnastics among many other posts within Gymnastics and Swimming. After completing teacher training, Zara worked as a Teacher of Science at various schools within the Merseyside area before taking a year out. During this time, Zara returned to university to complete a MSc in Public Health Nutrition at Edge Hill University with research entitled ‘Comparison of dietary intake between 16 – 18-year-old female gymnasts and 16 – 18-year-old females in the general population.’
Zara started at BioGrad Training in February 2020 and has taken on many roles since the company adapted to the changing world of COVID-19. These roles included Clinical Services Coordinator and Schools Liaison Manager where she worked very closely with BioGrad Diagnostics to ensure staff and students remained ‘COVID safe’ whilst studying on campuses around the country. Zara has now taken the post of Head of Education and is currently working on gaining Ofqual recognition to develop learner-centred high-quality qualifications with international recognition for pre-medical students and scientists and developing end point assessments, a new addition to our ever-growing education programmes.
In 2015, I finished my Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry from University of London. I worked on the improvement of drug delivery techniques using nano-liposomes. After completing my Master’s degree, I moved to University of Southampton to work in the research team of Prof. Feelisch on clinical research, more specifically to quantify sulphides and related metabolites, and their interaction with nitric oxide (NO) in plasma. I then started his PhD in single-molecule electronics and surface analysis within the research group of Prof. Higgins and Prof. Nichols at University of Liverpool in September 2017. I worked as a lecturer at BioGrad from 2017 to 2020. I finished my PhD in 2022, and I have been working at BioGrad since April 2022.
Claire Hetherington joined BioGrad Diagnostics in 2021, firstly as a team supervisor and then as deputy laboratory manager where she was responsible for scientific quality assurance and experimental validation for our UKAS accreditation to ISO15189:2012. Claire joined BioGrad Training in as a lecturer in January 2022. Prior to joining BioGrad, Claire conducted her Ph.D. research at the University of Aberdeen where she studied motor neuron disease using stem cells derived from patients. She has also worked for Pfizer on optimisation of stem-cell derived neurodegenerative disease models for drug screening and for Astrazeneca on developing novel immunotherapy biologics. Claire is an experienced mammalian cell culture specialist with additional expertise in cell & molecular biology.
Brendan currently heads up our diploma course at BioGrad Education. Having completed his BSc in Biology at the University of Sheffield, with a final dissertation on the study of disease modelling in humans, Brendan relocated to Aberdeen, Scotland where he worked in wildlife management and applied sciences.
Working alongside conservation movements and local authorities to control pest species and limit the risks to local populations Brendan was able to study the chemistry of pesticides and their risk factors to humans. Reigniting a prevailing interest in the medical field led to a renewed study of medicine and eventually returning to university at Robert Gordon University to study for a Nursing degree. During his degree Brendan was able to utilise his prior biological knowledge to help to create a course for practicing nursing staff on the biology of disease to help to combat the spread of MRSA and other pathogens. Brendan also started a small tutoring business during his degree covering the anatomy & physiology and biochemistry aspects of the nursing degree teaching other students on the course.
Brendan relocated back to Liverpool in 2020 and started at BioGrad, taking up a position as a PCR Scientist before becoming an integral part of the company taking on roles in Logistics, Quality Assurance and more. Brendan recently made the move to the Education Team to teach clinical courses. Having shown a propensity for teaching and designing courses, Brendan was promoted to the Head of Diploma Courses where he is presently working on the Preparation for Entry to Medical School Diploma, an exciting new offering from BioGrad Education available from 2023.
Sarah is our Laboratory Technician at BioGrad Education. Sarah worked as a Nursing Assistant in mental healthcare for 10 years, during which time she specialised in improving the physical health of patients in the mental health setting, providing services such as wound dressings, venepuncture, and electrocardiograms. A lifelong love of water, science and learning then prompted Sarah to begin to study a part-time Natural Sciences degree with the Open University, whilst working as a lifeguard, duty manager and swimming teacher at a Council pool. During the COVID 19 Pandemic, Sarah volunteered to be seconded to a Lateral Flow testing centre. Sarah began working as a Sample Receptionist for BioGrad Diagnostics in 2021, before learning how to conduct PCR assays to detect COVID 19. She was then thrilled to move to the Education department and take on a role in which she could learn fascinating practical scientific skills everyday whilst assisting lecturers and students!
Mary initially joined BioGrad as Health and Safety Risk Advisor after completing her master’s degree in Engineering Management at the University of Greenwich. While studying she also worked as the Engineering and Science faculty officer, acting as a voice for other students to provide a better educational environment for everyone. She also has experience in engineering and construction, as she was the internal project manager’s assistant working on projects with budgets over £100 million. Joining BioGrad was a great opportunity for Mary to enter and learn about the world of science alongside providing Quality Assurance, H&S, ISO 9001, ISO 15189 and internal auditing.
Now, Mary is our Student Liaison Manager who is the first point of contact between students and the BioGrad Education team. She uses her experience in management to support students with all their needs as well as ensuring their safety.
Andy works as Business Development Lead here at BioGrad Education. Having joined BioGrad Diagnostics in 2021 after completing his undergraduate BSc Hons degree in Business and Management, Andy began his career as a Marketing Executive. Since joining the Education Team, he has worked closely with a variety of schools, colleges and employers around the country to support them in equipping their students and staff with the skills necessary to pursue successful careers in science and medicine. Andy also spends a lot of time working closely with the Student Services Team ensuring that students receive the best possible experience during their time at BioGrad. Away from work, Andy is a keen supporter of Wigan Rugby and can often be found on the golf course….
Conner is our Examination Officer here at BioGrad Exams. Conner began his career in the hospitality industry from an early age. In 2019, Conner completed his degree in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Management. Being a former Housekeeping and Front of House Manager, Conner uses his skills and knowledge liaising with hotels across Liverpool. At BioGrad Conner was our Student Liaison Officer but has now moved to Exams. Conner is still available to help with Student Services and continues to work closely with the Student Liaison Manager and the Head of Examinations, ensuring students, parents and exam centres are satisfied.
Elle began working at BioGrad in October 2017 as a Business Administrator whilst working towards her Level 3 Business Apprenticeship. On successful completion of her apprenticeship, Elle was promoted to Marketing and Events Coordinator. As part of this, Elle took on the responsibility of booking medical and science events including school’s events such as careers talks and open days. Elle also coordinated various BioGrad social media platforms as well as running BioGrad student groups and interacting with students. Elle is now working with BioGrad Training as Training Coordinator working towards welcoming students back into our laboratories.
Dan is our Creative Designer here at BioGrad Education, having joined BioGrad in 2021. As Creative Designer Dan is responsible for managing our visual branding across all channels including both print and digital media. Working closely with the marketing team, Dan has generated content for social media, billboards, buses, Google Ads, leaflets and much more. Dan also provides support to our in-house web and systems development team, making sure everything we produce is coherent and in line with the brand identity.
Isla works within the BioGrad Education team as a Marketing Executive. Isla joined BioGrad in 2021 after graduating from Liverpool John Moores University and worked as part of the Diagnostics team during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has recently transitioned over to the Education team to assist in the expansion of the brand and business through online advertising and assisting Elle with the social media.
Dr. Oluwatobi Adegbite joined BioGrad Education in May 2022 as a guest lecturer where he teaches new training courses and sessions in western blots and Elisa assays. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Liverpool where he works as a protein chemist in a large research group. He expertly expresses and purifies various proteins of different bacterial microcompartments towards developing micro and nanocages targeted at varying biotech applications. He is involved in a drug development project where he is working on protein-protein interactions for effective and efficient drug targets and disease alleviation.
He was previously an antigen production senior scientist at Daresbury proteins, Warrington, UK where he was extensively engaged in the bioproduction of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antigen, its various mutants, and other SARS-CoV-2 associated proteins in human cell line HEK293 for both commercial purposes and other downstream research activities. This was tailored toward the effective and efficient diagnosis of COVID-19.
As a structural, cellular, and molecular biologist who majored in mitochondrial metabolism and mitochondria to nucleus retrograde signalling pathways during his Ph.D. at the University of Liverpool. He is proficient with so many biochemistry techniques such as isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
