UKRI’s FLF initiative aims to support the creation of a new cohort of research and innovation leaders who will have links across different sectors and disciplines. Awardees receive up to £1.5 million over an initial four years. The grant supports challenging and novel projects.  

Sixfold is the business-host for Dr Ioanna Mylonaki’s Future Leader Fellowship. During the project Dr Mylonaki will be expanding Sixfold's pre-clinical research program by bringing her expertise in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior of biomaterials used as drug delivery systems.

Dr Mylonaki will bring together top academic groups, state-of-the-art research facilities and industrial mentors, to accelerate the generation of high quality preclinical data on Sixfold’s technology.

Dr. Ioanna Mylonaki, UKRI Future Leader Fellow commented:

"I am eager to combine my pharmaceutical knowledge with Sixfold’s technology to bring efficient gene therapies to the patients. My goal is to explore the distribution of this drug delivery system to expand the company’s pipeline across different target organs and diseases."

Dr Anna Perdrix Rosell, co-founder and Managing Director of Sixfold Bioscience added:

"Attracting talent is key for the success of Sixfold. The UKRI Future Leader Fellowship scheme allowed us to secure the long term commitment of Dr. Ioanna Mylonaki and her team."

UKRI

UK Research and Innovation works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. Their aim is to maximise the contribution of each of our component parts, working individually and collectively.  URKI has a combined budget of more than £8 billion, UK Research and Innovation brings together the seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England.

Dr Ioanna Mylonaki

Dr. Mylonaki will be an Honorary Research Fellow at the Chemical Engineering department of Imperial College London. She previously worked at the group of Molly Stevens (Imperial College London),  and has received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and her MSc from the University of Athens, Greece. She brings a wealth of experience operating at the forefront of the design of drug delivery systems for delivering genes, cells and small molecules. You can follow Ioanna on Twitter: @Ioanna_Mylonaki

Sixfold Bioscience Ltd.

Sixfold Bioscience is a venture-backed preclinical-stage biotechnology company based at the Innovation and Translation Hub in White City, London. Sixfold develops nucleic acid-based drug delivery systems, with a current focus on Cell & Gene therapeutics such as short interfering RNA for gene silencing and messenger RNA for gene expression. For more information, visit here.