RNA Manufacturing Innovation Team

Professor Zoltán Kis — Team Leader

Zoltán Kis is a Professor of Bioprocess Engineering at the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield, and an Honorary Lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London.

Zoltán is leading a multidisciplinary team that is innovating and digitalising RNA vaccine and therapeutics production platform technologies. His work is addressing the challenges of producing large volumes of RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics, rapidly, at high quality and at low cost in a disease-agnostic manner.

Zoltán's work on RNA vaccine manufacturing and production process modelling received high-profile media coverage in the UK and internationally, including BBC World News, BBC Radio, Sky News, RTL TV, China Central Television (CCTV), Nature News, The Lancet, BMJ, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times and many more.

He also advises policy experts, non-governmental organisations and companies, having acted as a consultant for techno-economic modelling by the WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Hub, and sitting on the Sanofi mRNA CMC Advisory Board as well as the Pfizer mRNA technology Advisory Board.

Teaching

Zoltán is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is passionate about teaching and training the next generation of chemical and biological engineers.

1. CMB325-CMB456 — Biopharmaceutical and Vaccine Manufacturing, 3rd Year UG & M.Sc. (Module Leader & Lecturer)
2. CMB102 — Introduction to Bioengineering, 1st Year UG (Lecturer)

Contact Zoltán via LinkedIn or z.kis@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Mabrouka Maamra — Project and Laboratory Manager

Mabrouka Maamra joined the group as a Project Manager in January 2023. Before joining the group, her research involved biomarkers and therapeutic treatment in kidney fibrosis and endocrinology dysregulation in laboratories in Sheffield, Italy and Australia.

She was previously funded via the Wellcome Leap R3 program and now by CEPI. By participating in our projects, Mabrouka is keen on sharing her passion for science to help achieve rapid and efficient access to vaccines/therapeutics while contributing to human health, and particularly interested in equality of access worldwide.

Contact Dr Mabrouka Maamra via LinkedIn or m.maamra@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Caroline Evans — Senior Research Fellow

Caroline Evans is a research fellow at the University of Sheffield working on analysis methods for mRNA based Vaccine and Therapeutics Products. Dr Caroline Evans has a substantive and successful track record in bioanalytical analysis using mass spectrometry based workflows (Scopus h index 30).

Her research portfolio includes bioprocess optimization by protein analysis using quantitative proteomics and more recently method optimisation for analysis of mRNA vaccines, flexibility enabled by experience of customising workflows to specific applications.

Contact Dr Caroline Evans via LinkedIn or caroline.evans@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Adithya Nair — Research Associate

Dr. Adithya Nair is a post-doctoral research associate within the UK-SEA Vax Hub at the University of Sheffield. His work focuses on techno-economic modeling and process development for mRNA-based product manufacturing. He obtained his doctoral degree from Osaka University, Japan, and holds a master's degree in Industrial Biotechnology.

Contact Dr Adithya Nair via LinkedIn or adithya.nair@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Manoj Pohare — Research Associate

Manoj is a protein biochemist with a PhD from Ehime University, Japan (MEXT fellow). He is currently working on the ambitious "RNAbox" project, which aims to create a continuous high-quality, low-cost RNA manufacturing process contained in a box for rapid vaccine and therapeutic development. His research focuses on both the upstream and downstream aspects of the mRNA manufacturing process.

Contact Dr Manoj Pohare via LinkedIn or m.pohare@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Emma Welbourne — Academic Visitor

Emma is currently the COO and Co-Founder of RNA Forge Ltd. Emma was previously a post-doctoral research associate, working with Prof. Mark Dickman as well as Prof. Zoltán Kis. Her research was focusing on the development of analytical methods for the characterisation of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, and on mRNA manufacturing process development for needle-free, oral-patch based vaccine delivery.

Emma's background is in biophysics and she obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2021, where she studied novel magnetic particles for biomedical applications.

Contact Dr Emma Welbourne via LinkedIn or e.n.welbourne@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Prerna Bora — Research Associate

Dr. Prerna Bora is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield, where she is engaged in experimental process development for mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics. Her work involves the development and optimization of in vitro transcription (IVT) processes, with a particular focus on circular RNA (circRNA) and self-amplifying RNA. Prerna holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the Institute of Science Tokyo.

Contact Dr Prerna Bora via LinkedIn or p.bora@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Stuart Archer — Senior Research Technician

Stuart is the senior laboratory technician for the RNA Innovation Manufacturing Team, managing their equipment and laboratories in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering at The University of Sheffield. He brings a variety of experience, including a PhD in synthetic and analytical chemistry, research into DNA intercalating theranostic probes, pharmaceutical development in a GMP environment, research administration and health and safety in industrial and academic environments.

Contact Dr Stuart Archer via LinkedIn or s.a.archer@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Bojan Kopilovic — Research Associate

Bojan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sheffield in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, working in collaboration with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) under the supervision of Prof. Zoltán Kis.

Bojan's research focuses on the scalable production and purification of mRNA vaccines, with a strong emphasis on lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation and process intensification for decentralized manufacturing. He is passionate about advancing the RNA-based therapeutics field and enabling equitable access to vaccines worldwide through innovative strategies.

Contact Dr Bojan Kopilovic via LinkedIn or b.kopilovic@sheffield.ac.uk.

Dr Pramuditha Mendis — Research Associate

Pramuditha is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sheffield in the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering. Pramuditha's background is in Chemical and Process Engineering. He obtained his PhD from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2023, where his focus was model-based optimization of pharmaceutical crystallization processes.

His research focus is quality-by-design (QbD) and techno-economic modeling of mRNA manufacturing processes for needle-free, oral-patch based vaccine delivery.

Contact Dr Pramuditha Mendis via LinkedIn or n.p.mendis@sheffield.ac.uk.