Rod Benson Email & Phone Number

Manchester

Manchester, United Kingdom

At the moment this role is mostly around maintaining the Bensonium website. The company has also been created to manage my income from the Magical Maths Franchise.

Manchester, England, United Kingdom

Manchester Area, United Kingdom

This position arose as an emergency cover for a Manchester lecturer who sadly passed away late in 2021. At the moment I am tutoring second year medical science students and also helping with first year medicine problem based learning activities.

South Manchester

Mathematics is the language of science. Yet so many young people are put of maths before they reach the really interesting stuff in Secondary School. Magical Maths Clubs aims to change all this. By providing fun after school maths clubs for children between the ages of 5 to 11, we enthuse children to awaken their inner mathematical Einstein's. As primary school children have fun learning mathematical patterns and tricks so they begin to appreciate that this subject can be a lot more stimulating than learning boring 7 times tables or simplifying surds.As the great Professor Poopenshtinken says "surds is for nerds" but mathematics really can be magical.

Manchester, United Kingdom

Manchester Uk

Company originally established to offer High Content Screening services to the pharmaceutical industry. In 2013 we recapitalised the company and changed the scientific direction towards using High Content Screening to personalise cancer therapy.

United Kingdom

Imagen (Image Generation) Biotech was the original company founded by Rod Benson and Gareth Griffiths. We were a spin out company from AstraZeneca, who kindly donated a substantial amount of laboratory equipment to help us get started. Imagen Biotech's original mission was to provide a world-class outsourcing High Content Screening service to large and small pharma.In 2013 Imagen Biotech became Imagen Therapeutics, when we changed the focus of our company away from drug discovery to the challenging problem of personalising modern chemotherapy.Imagen Therapeutics is still going strong and provides cancer patients and their oncologists with an advanced high content screening services. This allows clinicians to pick a chemotherapy which has been shown to be efficacious in in vitro testing.

Senior scientist responsible for the delivery of biological data that is used in mathematical modelling. While working in this capacity I have:Ø Written three major project reports and worked closely with CIRA Translational science to produce two project scope documents which aim to address questions surrounding the Iressa fast-follower AZD8931.Ø Developed a comprehensive understanding of how to conduct HCB-type experiments that are compatible with a Systems Biology approach. Ø Developed an Excel Data Manager WizardØ Project supervised several scientists and studentsØ Responsible for a small imaging facility which contains an inverted fluorescent microscope a 2 photon confocal microscope and an arrayscan which I commissioned.Ø Recommissioned a Biomek 2000 liquid handling robot.Ø Forged strong contacts with the biotech industry including links with Cellomics, Biosource, BD, MSD, Tecan, Coulter and Active Motif.

Recipient of an 18 month Wellcome Showcase award (£83,000) for innovative research to examine the feasibility of measuring protein changes in living cells in “real” time using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The “LADDERS” project, (Live Antigen Detection Dual Epitope Reporter System), was an idea conceived by me. While working on this project I have:Ø Worked with patent lawyers/business managers to file the initial LADDERS technology patent.Ø Managed my own research grant and established a lab to perform recombinant DNA molecular biology.Ø Developed a CFP-intrabody and its epitope attached to YFP and tested these for protein-protein interaction in vitro using ELISA and in cyto using FRET.Ø Developed an analysis macro to automate the calculation of FRET based on work by Zia et al., 2001Ø Prepared and delivered a 2 day research training module on Flow Cytometry and developed research projects for final year science students.

Held several different Post Doctoral contracts which resulted in the following work experience:Ø Led a 3 year project to determine how medium-long chain fatty acids induce the secretion of cholecystokinin (CCK) from enteroendocrine cells. As senior postdoctoral associate, my duties included: administration of the project and communication of progress to the project’s grant holders, setting overall research objectives and developing appropriate research strategies, supervision of a PhD student and research technician.Ø Addressed the role of intracellular acidification in promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis). During this project I developed a way of manipulating pHi and examined whether shifting pHi from normal physiological values disrupted the protective effects of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2.Ø Developed an idea for a novel caspase detector (known as a caspirin) in conjuncation with a colleague. Ø Developed extensive knowledge of flow cytometry

Responsible for the set up and maintenance of computer systems. Developed and implemented a relational clinical database for storage of patient data. Ø Worked with clinicians to develop forms for presentation of patient information that were easy to complete, permitted detailed notes to be taken and allowed basic statistical data collection.Ø Supervised a data entry clerk.

Phd, Physiology

The aim of my Ph.D. work was to determine the mechanism(s) behind apoptotic cell shrinkage. I gained experience in scanning.

Bsc (Hons I), Physiology, Biochemistry

My honours research project examined the cytoskeletal changes occurring in chick embryo spinal motoneurones when plated onto a layer.