CoED Biosciences was founded on a vision to expand access to life-saving advanced cell therapies
Our journey began in the academic laboratories of Queen Mary University of London and the University of Bristol, where our founding team pioneered novel methods for cell separation and expansion. Recognising the potential to transform how patient-specific treatments are manufactured, we spun out the technology and were incorporated as part of the inaugural Science Creates Accelerator. This early support was instrumental in refining our mission: to replace complex, costly manufacturing processes with a streamlined platform that makes tumour-targeted cell therapies safe, effective, and affordable for healthcare systems worldwide.
Since our incorporation, we have rapidly validated our technology clinical and commercial opportunity through some of the UK’s most prestigious innovation programmes. These include Impulse Programme at Cambridge University supported by Cancer Research Horizon. We successfully completed Phases I and II of the Cancer Tech Accelerator—backed by Cancer Research UK and Capital Enterprise, which cemented our focus on solving critical bottlenecks in CAR-T therapy production. Now in 2026, as we enter the final phase of the Future Medicines Accelerator, we have established our new headquarters at the Cardiff Medicentre on the Heath Park campus. Here, in collaboration with Cardiff University, we are scaling our Column of Expansion and Differentiation (CoED) platform to bring the next generation of cancer medicines to patients faster than ever before.
Executive founding team
Dr. Saeed Fathi
Co-founder
Dr. Saeed Fathi is the co-founder and CTO of CoED Biosciences. He brings 20 years of engineering and life science product development experience to CoED Biosciences; he has led 10 products to market, spanning life science microscopy, cell and gene therapy, synthetic biology, diagnostics and fertility applications. Saeed’s leadership experience includes product development and scale in major organizations such as GE Healthcare and Cytiva, and since 2020, he has been building early-stage life science ventures in their foundation and growth phase, including as a VP for Platform at Nuclera. Since 2018, Saeed’s development have been on cell separation technologies, developing single cell isolation and microfluidics platforms for various applications. Saeed has a PhD in Engineering and had his post-doctoral research fellowship research in Bioengineering at the University of Cambridge.
Dr. David Coe
Co-founder
Dr. David Coe is the co-founder and CEO/CSO of CoED Biosciences, he previously held senior roles at Cytoseek, Queen Mary University and Imperial College. With a PhD in tumour immunology from Imperial College London, Dr. Coe furthered his expertise in making and directing cell therapies with post-doc experience at Imperial College, Queen Mary University and Bristol University. Dr Coe’s research focused on understanding the role of T-cell migration in transplantation rejection, immune tolerance, myocarditis and cancer. He has a history of completing pre-clinical projects where tissue targeted cells are fundamental to success. David is now leveraging his business and leadership skills to build CoED Biosciences into an innovation leader that can deliver new treatment options to patients around the world.
Advisory team
Dr. Frances Lock
SAB member
Frances Lock has more than 20 years of expertise developing methods for the culture, analysis and manipulation of primary epithelial and immune system cells, and in the study of precision medicine for the treatment of solid and blood cancers, having worked as a Research Associate at the BC Cancer Research Institute in Vancouver, Canada, and at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Dr Lock holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Birmingham.
Dr. Nick Pumphrey
SAB member
Nick Pumphrey is a successful senior leader with 25 years of postdoctoral experience in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry. He has a strong scientific background in developing clinical candidates to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. Nick has a proven track record of building diverse and effective teams, developing enterprise leadership skills, and delivering effective clinical candidates on time and on budget to benefit patients. He is currently Chief Scientific Officer for Etcembly Ltd, and an advisory board member of MICA Biosystems Ltd.

