Dr Qasim Rafiq | Associate Professor, Bioprocessing Of Cell And Gene Therapies
University College London

Dr Qasim Rafiq is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Cell & Gene Therapy Bioprocessing within the Department of Biochemical Engineering at University College London (UCL).   Prior to this he was a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Bioprocess Engineering at Aston Medical Research Institute, Aston University. He obtained his Masters in Engineering at UCL in Biochemical Engineering before completing his PhD at Loughborough University investigating the scalable, robust manufacture of clinically-relevant human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Following his PhD, he was awarded a £250k Fellowship with a focus to develop a small-scale experimental model for hMSC expansion.   Dr Rafiq currently leads a research portfolio >£1M focusing on translational science, specifically the biomanufacture of advanced therapeutics including cell, gene and tissue-based therapies. This includes scalable, automated manufacture of cell and gene-based therapies and the development of process control strategies to drive product consistency. He is both a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Chartered Scientist (CSci) and sits on multiple scientific and engineering committees including ESACT-UK (UK Society for Cell Culture Biotechnology) as the committee?s General Secretary, and the IChemE Biochemical Engineering Subject Interest Group.