Julian Ma

I am an immunologist, working with plant biotechnologies. I have held the chair of Molecular Immunology at St. George's University of London since 2003 and since 2014 I have been the Director of the Institute for Infection and Immunity.

I joined St. George’s in October 2003, leading a research team that specialises in immunology and the production of recombinant pharmaceuticals using plant biotechnology (molecular pharming). My research is particularly focused on using biotechnology tools to produce novel pharmaceutical proteins to improve global access to modern medicines.

I was the scientific co-ordinator of Pharma-Planta, from 2004-2011, a €12M European Union Framework Programme 6 project to develop pharmaceuticals from plant-derived proteins. I was subsequently awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to develop further plant biotechnology derived medicines to clinical trials. I am currently the Principal Investigator for Pharma-Factory, an €8.3M EU Horizon 2020 project to advance the commercial pipeline of products from molecular pharming.