Board of directors

Melissa is a Senior Investment Manager at Brandon Capital Partners with prior investment experience at the life science specialist venture fund, Terra Rossa Capital. Melissa is a director of three MRCF portfolio companies developing novel drug assets across metabolic disease, cancer and autoimmune indications. Melissa has a PhD in Immunology from the University of Adelaide, post-doctoral research training in autoimmune disease and an MBA specialising in finance from the University of South Australia. Melissa holds a Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Michael is an Investment Manager at life science specialist venture capital firm Brandon Capital Partners (BCP). His prior experience in commercialisation and investment includes Senior Business Development Manager position at Monash University where he managed the Life Science portfolio for the Faculty of Medicine. Prior to this, he was an Investment Manager (Life Sciences) at the TTCF, a seed/venture commercialisation fund manager focused on opportunities derived from academic research. Michael has led due diligence and deal negotiations on numerous Life Science transactions and investee companies, including Nexvet (NVET – NASDAQ: acquired by Zoetis in 2017).  Michael’s research experience includes a Roche Research Foundation post-doctoral fellowship at the ISREC (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. Michael has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Adelaide, a PhD in stem cell biology from the University of Adelaide and an MBA specialising in technology management from La Trobe University. Michael is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and has current board appointments at MRCF investees Currus Biologics and Foray Therapeutics.

Aoife Cullen, Head of Commercialisation (Life Sciences) with Monash Innovation, is the Monash Investment Holdings representative to the Cincera board. Aoife has worked in commercialisation, technology transfer and translation and the formation and facilitation of new companies, and has worked in research and tech transfer roles in Europe (Trinity College Dublin), the USA (Uniformed Services University, Henry M. Jackson Foundation and The University of Colorado) and Australia (UniQuest, University of Queensland and Monash University), and has held or holds board positions in regenerative medicine, immunotherapy and drug-development early-stage companies. In addition to scientific credentials (a BSc in Biochem and a PhD in Neuroscience), she is also a Registered Technology Transfer Professional (RTTP) and Certified Licensing Professional (CLP), and has completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors, AICD Companies Directors course, and the Stanford University Institute for Entrepreneurship program.