Pioneering neurodegenerative disease drug discovery

Talisman develops disease-modifying therapeutics for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. We also provide access to our revolutionary iPSC platform to support external R&D partnerships.

Our science

Talisman has built a best-in-class human neuroscience discovery platform, combining human stem cell-derived neural cell types with human genetics to engineer models of disease initiation and progression. Our iPSC technology transforms the discovery of disease-modifying treatments by avoiding the limitations of current neurological drug discovery approaches.

Discovery pipeline

We apply our human discovery platform to every stage of preclinical development, from novel target ID to clinical candidate selection. Our internal discovery programs are focussed in three areas: lysosome biology, pathogenic protein reduction and microglial health.

Collaborations

Talisman has supported the neuroscience preclinical discovery programs of biotechs, company-creating VCs and global pharma for over 10 years. Learn more about our expertise and how Talisman can accelerate progression of your preclinical neuroscience portfolio.

Leadership

Rick Livesey

Co-CEO & Chief Scientific Officer

Emily Scraggs, PhD

Co-CEO & Chief Operating Officer

James Smith, BSc

Head of Scientific Operations

J. Mark Treherne BSc, MPhil, PhD

Chairman of the Board

Careers

Talisman is not currently recruiting. However, we do welcome speculative applications which may be sent to recruitment@talisman-therapeutics.com.

As part of our compliance in relation to the General Data Protection Regulations 2019 (GDPR) please find below our Job Applicant Privacy Notice. Please be reassured that any application will be managed in accordance with this Notice.

Applicant Privacy Notice

Rick Livesey

Co-CEO & Chief Scientific Officer

Rick is the co-CEO, CSO and scientific founder of Talisman. With over twenty years of experience in neuroscience, stem cell biology and drug discovery in academia, biotech and pharma, Rick's research has pioneered methods to model human brain development and disease from pluripotent stem cells. He was previously VP Research and Head of the Genetic and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Unit at Biogen. Prior to that he was the Great Ormond Street Charity Professor of Stem Cell Biology at UCL, Senior Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Fellow, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School. Rick obtained his medical degree and PhD from the University of Cambridge, completing his PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. He is currently Honorary Professor at University College London, adjunct professor at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin and an Entrepreneur in Residence and adjunct professor at the College of Business & Law, University College Cork.

Emily Scraggs, PhD

Co-CEO & Chief Operating Officer

Emily is co-CEO and COO, and a co-founder of Talisman Therapeutics. She is responsible for the commercial operations of the company. With over twenty years of project management and management consultancy experience in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America, Emily brings strategic and business capability to leading the business aspects of Talisman. Previous organisations that Emily has worked with include senior roles with RAND Corporation, University of Cambridge, and Public and Corporate Economic Consultants. In the US, Emily worked with Viant Corporation and Amherst Consulting Group. Emily has a PhD from the London School of Economics.

James Smith, BSc

Head of Scientific Operations

James Smith is the Head of Scientific Operations for Talisman Therapeutics. He oversees all operational and logistical aspects of the running of the Talisman labs. He also plays a strategic role enabling the business to stay ahead of technological developments and aligned with the emerging scientific requirements of our projects. James is an experienced stem cell biologist with particular expertise in human stem cell models of disease, including assay development and compound screening in these systems. James was previously lab manager of the Livesey research group at University College London and at the Gurdon Institute, Cambridge for 20 years. Prior to that, James was a research scientist at Gemini Genomics. James is a graduate of Durham University.

J. Mark Treherne BSc, MPhil, PhD

Chairman of the Board

Mark Treherne is a Director and the Chairman of Talisman Therapeutics. He is responsible for the business strategy of Talisman. Mark has over 25 years’ experience in the discovery of novel treatments for diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Mark formerly worked with Pfizer where he was responsible for research into neurodegenerative diseases, including using stem-cell derived lines for screening compounds. In 1997, Mark set up Cambridge Drug Discovery as Chief Executive, which he sold to BioFocus in 2001. Mark has worked with many early-stage biotechnology companies, including CDD, Xention, Ampika, Population Genetics Technologies, Domain Therapeutics, Cyclofluidic and NeuroSolutions. Mark was formerly Chairman of ERBI for 3 years, which represents the biotechnology companies in the East of England (now One Nucleus). He was also Chief Executive of the Life Sciences Organisation of UK Trade & Investment and helped define the national investment strategy for dementia research in the UK. Mark is an author of over 70 articles published in the scientific and trade press. Mark obtained his PhD in receptor neuropharmacology from Cambridge University.