The 50th Bolton School Boys’ Division Tillotson Lecture was delivered by former pupil Professor Robin Ali, Class of 1984, in which he gave a personal perspective on his career as an academic in the field of biotechnology and on what he sees as the future of healthcare.
Robin Ali, who is now Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at King’s College London, said it was a pleasure and honour to be invited back to Bolton School and that he was delighted to see that it is ‘still a great educational environment’. He spoke of his fond memories of his time at school (1976-1984) and how he went on to spend his undergraduate years at University College London (UCL), where he has also spent much of his career. He said, rather modestly, that in 2003, when he became the youngest professor (of Molecular Genetics) at UCL, it was a rapidly moving field and it was more down to being in the right place at the right time than his own brilliance. He also told how, two years ago, he moved across to King’s College London to head up a centre for advanced therapies. Whilst the centre has many academic teams, he said his main focus is, and has been for 30 years or so, on advanced gene cell therapies for the treatment of eye diseases, particularly inherited retinal disorders.
Professor Ali gave the audience an overview of biotechnology from 1970 from the first isolation of restriction enzymes in bacteria, to his latest projects at King’s where his team is working on developing a range of gene and stem cell therapies. He then went on to field a range of questions including: to what extent can you rely on the use of potentially pathogenic viruses in possible life-changing treatments; is there a correlation between retinal detachment and ethnicity or genetics; the scalability of advanced therapies; and, answering a question about what advice he would give to the students in the audience, he advised following your passions and interests, seeing things through, having patience and perseverance and to only work on things that are really worth working on.
Earlier in the day, Professor Ali visited Biology and Design Tech classes in the Boys’ Division and enjoyed a tour of the campus.
Watch the 50th Tillotson Lecture in full.
Professor Ali attended Bolton School from 1976-1984, before studying at University College London where he obtained his BSc in Genetics (1988) and then his PhD (1993). He carried out his postdoctoral training at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London and then at University College London where he established his research group and was promoted to full Professor in 2003. He moved in 2020 to King’s College London to lead the development of advanced therapies across King’s Health Partners.
Robin Ali is Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at King’s College London (KCL). He is also Director of the Guy's and St Thomas’ Biomedical Research Centre, Head of the KCL Centre for Gene Therapy & Regenerative Medicine and Director of the KCL Gene Therapy Vector Facility. Robin is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, UK National Institute for Health Research Senior Investigator and immediate past President of the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. The focus of his research is the development of gene and cell therapy for the treatment of retinal disorders. He has published over 200 scientific papers and established the world’s first clinical trial of gene therapy for retinopathy. He and his team have won numerous international prizes for their work, including the €1M Champalimaud Vison Award. He is also a founder and former Chief Scientific Officer of MeiraGTx PLC, a Nasdaq-listed clinical-stage gene therapy company and has served on the advisory boards of numerous pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including Alcon/Novartis.
