Page 14 - PERIODIC Magazine Issue 5

Ca
A talyst for Success

Rob Simion talks to Periodic

Rob Simion (Univ 2011) is Co-Founder
and Chief Technology Officer of
Enzbond, the first ever student-
led spinout from the Department
of Chemistry. After his BS at the
University of Tennessee-Knoxville,
Rob came to Oxford to read for a
DPhil in the Paton Group. Between
writing up and defending his thesis,
Rob somehow found the time to
create Enzbond, a new biotechnology
company that already has an
impressive client list and interest from
big pharma companies. He talks to
Periodic about how he did it.

Tell us a little about Enzbond and how you had
the idea.
Alina Rakhimova (CEO and co-founder of Enzbond and
former biochemistry DPhil student) and I shared a house Our technology allows us to examine the potential properties
on Merton Street, the pink house near the end. Both being of enzymes in-silico; this is many times faster than the trial-
scientists, we would return from our labs in the late hours and-error methods that have traditionally been used by
and chat in the kitchen. Alina used to be part of a tech start- industry. Once we had proof of concept, we were able to
up and has a background in finance and management, and source investors and clients, and we met with development
I had ideas about forming a company, so things progressed teams at companies like AstraZeneca and GSK. I submitted
from there. my DPhil thesis a week before these meetings, and in the
3-4 months between submission and defence of my thesis
Having studied both chemistry and biochemistry, I always we found investors. The defence meeting was a day or two
had an interest in enzymology. My DPhil in the Department before the investment board meeting, so it was a very busy
of Chemistry with Rob Paton was initially to design small time!
molecule catalysts. I ended up with lots of designs, but
then the question was which ones would actually be good
for synthesis? Could computational methods help? Rob Enzbond was officially launched in November 2016.
generously allowed me room to explore ideas, and with help How have things developed since then, and what’s
from Professor Catherine Pears, Alina’s DPhil supervisor, and next?
Professor Steve Davies in Chemistry we were able to set up a
month-long project that led to a successful demonstration of We have been fortunate enough to find lab and desk space
our technology. in London, where I now live with my wife Aparajita. In the

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Periodic The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry