Our Team
Naturbeads team members are passionate about technology and the environment. We believe that global warming and plastic pollution need hard tech innovations and our scientists and engineers are committed to accelerate the scale up of our sustainable solutions

Olivia Walker
Editor in Chief

Dan Mitchell
Assistant Manager
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Noah Patterson
Programming Editor
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Tess Anderson
Art Director

Giuseppina Tufano
Chemical Engineer
Giuseppina recently graduated in Chemical Engineering at University of Naples, Federico II. During her master’s degree, she specialized in chemical product engineering, dealing with emulsions, suspensions, foams and studying their rheological behavior. Her Master thesis focused on water recovery processes for industrial applications. She joins Naturbeads to enhance the sustainability of the process, optimize beads production and expand their range of applications.

Soren Lashkajani
Chemist
Soren completed his BSc in Chemistry with a focus on Analytical and Biochemistry from the University of Leicester, where he worked on synthesizing gold nanoparticles for therapeutics and drug delivery. He used advanced analytical techniques in his project to create a new synthesis method. Soren is joining the team to help produce beads and explore new techniques.

Jason Parsons
Process Technician
A veteran business person who is always looking for the next big challenge, Jason has been with us since starting our company. Jason is an experienced R&D and manufacturing technician. He joins Naturbeads after 32 years of experience in DuPont MicroCircuit Materials where he gained expertise in R&D, quality control, manufacturing, laboratory stewardship and risk assessment.

Ferdinando Radice
Biotech Research Assistant
Ferdinando recently graduated in Industrial Biotechnology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, with a final project focusing on scaffolds for cultured meat production. During his studies he worked as a peer-to-peer tutor and he was student representative. He joins Naturbeads to explore and validate possible biological applications for the cellulose beads.

Kaya Baber
Chemist
Kaya studied Chemistry at Cardiff University, where she also completed her Masters project in Biochemistry. She has previously worked in the food testing industry and in a geotechnical laboratory before joining Naturbeads as a Chemist. At Naturbeads Kaya will work on the beads production process under an Innovate UK Smart grant, and will support the technical team in expanding the range of applications of Naturbeads cellulose beads to prevent microplastics pollution.

Alican Gençer
Senior Scientist
Alican is deeply committed to work on sustainability. He has a PhD degree in Chemistry from KU Leuven, where he worked on colloidal deposition of cellulose nanocrystals. During his MSc degree at KU Leuven he also developed wheat gluten based materials. Prior to Naturbeads, Alican was research fellow at Trinity College Dublin, developing materials for leading global ICT. He also spent two years at a pulp and paper mill as head of R&D and QMS.

Katie Barnard
Chemist
Katie has a BSc in Biochemistry from Swansea University and is now completing a Master in Biochemistry at the University of Bristol (expected completion August 2022). Katie worked on wound healing and in vivo live imaging whilst gaining experience as a researcher.
She joins Naturbeads to work on the production and commercialisation of Naturbeads cellulose beads technology and will be of valuable help to further explore their applications.

Davide Califano
Protein Chemist
Davide is an extroverted protein chemist qualified in the design of nanocomposite soft-materials. He worked in several disciplines including bioprocess engineering, synthetic biology and colloidal science. During his academic career he engaged in different international projects. He specialised in the design of cellulose/enzyme hybrids to be used as antimicrobial materials.

Roger Whorrod
Business Adviser
Roger has a BSc and an MSc in Electrical Engineering and an MBA. He successfully built three businesses manufacturing electro-mechanical products for the construction and petrochemical markets. Outside of business his main interest is philanthropy, particularly with his alma mater, the University of Bath. In 2016 the University of Bath awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering.