Richard Mott MSc

Scientific Business Development Director

Richard is a protein biochemist by training with over 25 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

Richard Mott Business Development Associate

More about Richard

Looking back, it is often small random events that determine a person’s path in life. A clerical error at university meant that Richard ended up doing the only final year project left on offer – “purification and characterisation of ovotransferrin protein”. That allowed him to somehow blag through an interview at ICI pharmaceuticals and secure a job in the protein science group and from there he never looked back.

However, as far as he can tell, in 17 wonderful years, Richard never made ICI / Zeneca / AstraZeneca a single penny. “Find Failure Faster” became his mantra. During this time his great love of the outdoors continued to grow and he was lucky enough to kayak many of the World’s wilder rivers. Following a break to do an MSc in Renewable Energy, there was a short, but hugely rewarding time with BioHydrogen Ltd.

After that Richard spent several years in the weird space between research and manufacturing as part of the biopharmaceutical development team at Eli Lilly / Elanco. Now he has returned “home” to Alderley Park with Peak Proteins. A wee bit more settled now, he is often found out in the hills with his family and collie dog.

Employee Spotlight

I’m a business development associate, which is a lovely broad role. In the BD team we are usually the first people to discuss with a client the nitty gritty of what we can offer to help them with their project. There is a real balancing act, trying to understand the background science to a level where I’m able to write a sensible, fairly priced proposal, whilst defining an achievable experimental plan for the project. I also thoroughly enjoy the other aspects of the role. Such as formulating our marketing and sales strategy, developing client relations and maintaining the website.

I worked at one of the Elanco (Eli Lilly) manufacturing sites where I spent some time in a  frontline technical support role for a biotherapeutic manufacturing process. Coming from a laboratory research background, this was an absolute crash course in process control, regulatory affairs, quality control for batch release, deviations and root cause investigation. However, most of my time with Elanco was as a lead scientist, tasked with modifying laboratory scale processes for biopharmaceuticals to a point where they were suitable for full scale manufacture. Quality by Design, Design of Experiments and all of that good stuff.

Prior to Elanco, following an MSc in Renewable Energy, I had a short spell with BioHydrogen, a renewables start-up where we engineered E.coli to produce hydrogen from waste sugar. I always said that you would know when we were successful because there would be a massive squeaky pop as the top of the building blew off and we would emerge with big grins and charred hair sticking up “Wile E Cayote” style.

Before my MSc, I enjoyed many (perhaps too many) happy years in the protein engineering group at AstraZeneca. That included a 6-month secondment to Sweden, which is without doubt one of the highlights of my career. I met such lovely, kind, generous, fun loving people there. A masterclass in hospitality and work-life balance.

Initially maths, but when that got harder at A level, biology. We had fabulous biology teachers at school (one of whom was a world expert on stick insects).

Even though I never really understood the physics, I love the child-like curiosity, the sense of wonder and fun that Richard Feynman had.

Many, many, many reasons but in the end, it came down to a place where my particular set of skills and approach are truly valued, wonderful people (many of whom I already knew well from AZ days) and a much shorter commute.

Coming up with ideas to solve tricky problems. Even better when they actually work!

I used to define myself as a white-water kayaker and have been lucky enough to paddle all over the world (Bhutan, Tibet, Uganda, Ecuador, Chile and many others). But now, with the combination of a fairly young, very active family and an old - needs a lot of DIY – house, I don’t have much spare time really. When I do, I like to pop out on my bike (in a vain attempt to reduce the lockdown lump) or read a good book.

Greed and selfishness.

A homemade steak and ale pie with chips in a Lakeland pub after a grand day out in the fells, with good company and fine ale. For comfort food: Nachos with salsa, melted cheese and tonnes of guacamole.

That is such a difficult question as so many of the world problems are interlinked. However, I would love to see people and politicians seriously discussing population control. The growing human population seems to me to be at the heart of many of the issues the world is facing.

I count myself as very, very lucky with a wonderful wife and children and there is a lot of joy in our lives. They are my bedrock on the rare occasions I do feel down. Also meeting up with my brothers or just being out and about in the Great Outdoors. If none of these are options at the time, then a mug of (Yorkshire) tea with a gingernut (or three) goes a long way.

Films currently; Forrest Gump and The Greatest Showman for inspiration and general feel-good factor. Hot Fuzz for pure carnage and entertainment.

Song; totally depends upon my mood at the time. My music tastes are fairly eclectic I suppose, from Górecki to Sting, Capercaillie to Queens of the Stone Age.

One of these statements might not be entirely true. I have…….

……played bagpipes for the Queen.

……surfed the Severn bore.

…...kept bees.

……sung in a choir in the Royal Albert Hall.

……walked across a continent.

……snow/sand-boarded on the dunes of the Namibian desert.

Business Development Team