Chris Van Der Walle

Chris van der Walle obtained his PhD in peptide chemistry from King’s College London, where he was subsequently awarded a Maplethorpe Fellowship. He moved to the University of Oxford to study cell-matrix interactions before taking up lectureships at the Universities of Bath and later Strathclyde, becoming a Reader. In 2012, he joined the Biopharmaceutical Development group of MedImmune to formulate monoclonal antibodies, then merging with AstraZeneca as Director-Fellow to develop early stage messenger RNA lipid nanoparticle therapeutics. Over 2020-21, he led the Formulation Development team in T-cell therapeutics at GlaxoSmithKline, then taking up his current position as Edinburgh Centre Director of the Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult, focussed to scientific and industrial collaboration, technology transfer and clinical trial acceleration. He has published over 100 research articles, reviews and book chapters and retains an interest in the pharmaceutical sciences and advanced therapy medicinal products.