Key Staff

John Harris

Managing Director

John joined Key Organics in 2007 as Managing Director. He completed a degree in Biology from the University of Salford (1981) and PhD in Pathology/Biochemistry from the University of Southampton (1985). Subsequently, John has worked for a number of chemical /biotechnology companies including Shell Research, Monsanto (Belgium), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Zeneca, Agrisense-BCS, Certis-Mitsui, and Tracetag in roles of increasingly responsibility, ranging from pure research, through commercial development, sales & marketing, and MD/CEO roles. John also holds an MBA from the University of Surrey (2007).

Colin Swinburne

Chemistry Team Leader - Intermediates

Colin Swinburne joined Key Organics in 1999 after working for Invensys. He had previously completed his degree at Leicester University (1996) which included a year of industrial placement at Astra, Loughborough. Colin has worked for BIONET Intermediates since 2001 and he currently holds the position of Team Leader. He is responsible for ensuring that the BIONET Intermediates catalogue continues to offer new, novel, quality compounds that are appealing to the discerning synthetic chemist.

Jeremy Sharp

Company Secretary

Jeremy Sharp joined Key Organics 1995 after leaving the NatWest Bank where he was Bank Manager. During his 33 years of service he was responsible for business advice, risk assessment and key company accounts. Jeremy brings this wealth of experience to the Key Organics positions of Company Secretary and Accounts Manager.

Elizabeth Jones

Head of Business Development

Elizabeth started at Key Organics as a chemist synthesising custom projects and compound libraries. She had previously attained an Applied Chemistry sandwich degree at Nottingham Trent University with an industrial year at Merck Sharpe and Dohme focused on medicinal chemistry. After 5 years as a Key Organics FTE chemist, heavily involved with daily communication with customers, she joined Business Development as Key Organics' representative for Europe. In this role, Elizabeth established numerous successful collaborations with customers by combining her chemistry background with customer orientated experience to foster and maintain good working relationships with customers worldwide; always listening and responding flexibly to customers' changing needs. This long term commitment to Key Organics' client base ensures delivery of chemistry services that exceed customers' expectations whilst delivering exceptional value for money. In addition Elizabeth devised and launched the Bionet scaffolds database and was heavily involved with the Bionet Ro3 Fragment Library. In her role as Head of Business Development, as well as building and advancing customer relationships, Elizabeth is also responsible for exploring new collaborative opportunities globally with special emphasis on increasing Key Organics' offerings portfolio through a variety of initiatives

Matthew Stent

Chemistry Team Leader – New Product Development

Matthew Stent joined Key Organics in 2005; after initially working on time critical and complex custom synthesis he moved into the FTE area, eventually becoming a project leader. Matthew is now the Chemistry Team Leader charged with developing new product lines and expansion of our catalogue through collaborations and procurement. Matthew is a graduate of the University of Bristol and obtained his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, where he worked on the development and application of new synthetic methodology, especially desymmetrisation of epoxides, under the supervision of Prof. David Hodgson. In 2003 he joined Prof. Phil Magnus's group in Austin, Texas for a two year period of post-doctoral research, where he worked on the total synthesis of the rocaglamides.

Sorin V. Filip

Chemistry Team Leader – Custom, FTE/Contract & Screening

Sorin Filip joined Key Organics in 2003, working on medicinal chemistry projects for global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the areas of custom synthesis, FTE, and parallel synthesis of compound libraries. He is the Chemistry Team Leader responsible for both the KOCAS Sector and the Bionet Screening compound collection; he manages all aspects of KOCAS Custom Synthesis and FTEs, including communication, operations and support.

Sorin has a BSc and MSc from "Babeş-Bolyai" University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Bielefeld, Germany, in 2002, under the guidance of Prof. Norbert Sewald. Between 1995 and 1998 he was a research scientist at the National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, working on the development and application of microwave technology in organic synthesis. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Bayer CropScience, La Dargoire Research Center, Lyon, France, working in collaboration with the group of Prof. Jean Martinez at the Laboratory of Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins from University of Montpellier, on the design and synthesis of novel lead antifungal compounds in the agrochemical domain.