Sunil Shah and Dr Catherine Elton join Atelerix's Board to drive global commercial expansion

Atelerix, a biotech company revolutionizing cell preservation and biological transport with its pioneering hydrogel encapsulation technology, today announced the appointments of Sunil Shah as Chair of the Board and Dr Catherine Elton as Non-Executive Director. Bringing extensive industry expertise in scientific innovation and company building, Sunil and Catherine will support Atelerix as it prepares for global commercial and operational scale-up, responding to growing demand for the Company's non-cryogenic cell preservation solutions.

Sunil Shah is a serial life sciences entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience founding, scaling, and investing in early-stage biotech companies. He is Co-Founder of the o2h Group and CEO of o2h Ventures, a specialist biotech fund with a portfolio of over 35 companies in novel drug therapeutics, biotech platforms, and AI-driven innovation. Sunil sits on the boards of several pioneering biotech companies including Oxford Drug Design, Exonate, Kuano, Alevin Therapeutics, Metrion Biosciences and others. He previously served on the board of Cambridge Angels and is currently a Non-Executive Director of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA). Sunil's expertise in commercializing disruptive technologies aligns with Atelerix's mission to transform cell preservation.

Dr Catherine Elton brings over 20 years of scientific and commercial leadership expertise in the life sciences. She is currently Chief Business Officer at Axol Biosciences, a company specializing in the manufacture of high-performance iPSC-derived cells and delivery of industry-leading laboratory services to advance the use of iPSC-based models in drug discovery and disease research. In 2016, Catherine founded Qkine, a University of Cambridge spin-out specializing in the manufacture of complex bioactive proteins for advanced cell models and regenerative medicine. Under her leadership as CEO, Qkine established strategic partnerships with major global life science organizations and scaled operations across the biotech sector in over 37 countries worldwide. Throughout her career, Catherine has held a series of senior leadership positions, notably as Head of Product Development and Manufacture at Abcam, where she was instrumental in scaling the R&D and manufacturing operations during its early growth phase.

In their roles, Catherine and Sunil will leverage their deep expertise in commercialization, market strategy, R&D, regulatory systems and high-performance operations to guide Atelerix's growth and long-term value creation. With extensive networks and proven track record in driving effective industry partnerships, they will work closely alongside the leadership team to accelerate international expansion at this pivotal stage, building on recent distributor partnerships to enhance access to the Company's portfolio of cell preservation solutions across major markets.

"Catherine and Sunil are widely regarded across the biotech sector for their scientific expertise and successful track record in company building. They are both strong advocates for the UK life science sector, and I'm excited to welcome them both to Atelerix's Board," said Alastair Carrington, CEO, Atelerix. He continued: "Their support and guidance at this time will be invaluable as we continue to grow Atelerix on a global scale, bringing our unique cell preservation solutions to an international network of customers and partners."

Atelerix's hypothermic gel technology is redefining how biological materials are preserved and transported — a challenge that is only growing as life sciences become more global. Having worked with many companies that would benefit from this innovation, I am excited to join the Board and help guide Atelerix through its next stage of growth."

Sunil Shah, Chair of the Board, Atelerix

Dr Catherine Elton, Non-Executive Director, Atelerix, said: "Atelerix's innovative platform for preserving cell and tissue viability addresses a significant unmet need across fast-growing markets, including clinical trial logistics, cell therapy and basic research. I'm very much looking forward to supporting their commercial execution."