Cambridge-based CN Bio, an organ-on-a-chip company that designs and manufactures single-and multi-organ microphysiological systems, has appointed Neil Rumbelow as director of product development.

He is tasked with driving the scale-up of CN Bio’s R&D activities, expanding its range of products, and incorporating the latest technological advances to further extend their applications within preclinical research.

Rumbelow has experience of managing R&D programmes across the medical device industry. He was previously head of engineering at Owlstone Medical, responsible for the company’s multidisciplinary engineering team, alongside the operational activities delivering the hardware required for commercial supply and for its clinical studies and trials. Prior to that, he was operations and R&D manager at Inotec AMD. He has also held multiple positions at Bespak, most recently as head of marketed product support, where he was responsible for all device management activities.

Rumbelow: “I have been fortunate to work across a broad portfolio of innovative and cutting-edge medical device companies within my career, and I am looking forward to applying this experience within the OOC industry at such a pivotal moment in the field’s development. The value of microphysiological systems within therapeutic programmes is being increasingly recognised; joining the CN Bio team and working closely with key industry stakeholders to expand our product offering and bring these solutions to customers sooner is an incredibly exciting next career step for me.”

Dr Tomasz Kostrzewski, CN Bio’s chief scientific officer, commented: “Neil has extensive experience in managing complex multifaceted engineering projects to bring medical and life science products to the market, and I believe his experience will be invaluable in helping us to scale up our R&D activity and enable us to become the world’s leading OOC company.”