Sebastian Aston-Deaville PhD

Sebastian started his journey into science at the young age of six, when his parents bought a poster of the Solar System for him, which he read and re-read almost constantly. Being fortunate enough to be born in the 90’s, so as to be the perfect age to enjoy the Star Wars prequels also probably helped. Undeterred by the lack of space travel in his life, he sated his curiosity with the intricate and ever-expanding world of biotechnology.

Whilst attaining a BA in Natural Sciences at Cambridge, Sebastian secured a summer internship at University of Manchester purifying Cytochrome P450 enzymes with the Munro group, which cemented his interest in the purification of proteins. He then went on to do a PhD at UoM in the Derrick group (as part of the BRIC program), investigating the potential of Hepatitis B Virus-Like Particles as vaccine platforms for the display of antigen domains from Neisseria meningitidis proteins. This technology is the basis of the recently, and currently only, approved Malaria vaccine (Mosquirix). During his PhD, Sebastian designed, trialled and optimised protein purification methods of numerous constructs, providing him with crucial bioprocessing experience that would prepare him for a career in the biotech industry.

Sebastian then took up a role as Downstream Process Development Scientist at Cobra Biologics (acquired by Charles River Laboratories in 2021), a CDMO specialising in gene therapy products, where he worked on and lead projects to improve plasmid production processing times, as well as designing a platform for the purification and enrichment of full AAV viral vectors. After a brief stint in a similar role at Rentschler Biopharma, Sebastian realised that “the South” was decidedly not for him and promptly moved back up North where he has joined Peak Proteins as a Protein Scientist. He hopes to put his extensive purification experience to work on a more diverse set of proteins that are more well-behaved than viral vectors!

Sebastian loves to spend his free time playing board/video/role-playing games with friends and family – the crunchier the better (the games that is). Sebastian has found that the crunchiness of friends and family has little impact on the enjoyment of such activities. He also hates cooking and baking but endures such suffering to benefit from the fruits of his labours, including such things as: hideous yet delicious cakes, intriguing pizza toppings, and vast quantities of soup. The quality of these goods are unrelated to the crunchiness of his friends and family. Sebastian plays the clarinet with intermediate proficiency – the neighbours have not yet complained (despite the thin walls), but his cat always leaves the room. He also enjoys reading fantasy and sci-fi novels as well as historical non-fiction books.