Elad
Katz
32+
years of experience
years of experience
Fractional CTO — Precision Biology, Drug Discovery & Translational Science in Regulated Industries
Elad Katz has spent over two decades working at the intersection of deep biological science and commercial reality, leading translational research and venture creation across oncology, kidney, liver, cardiac, bone and women's health. His experience spans founding and leading Navigate Precision Biology, where he built the NaviPlate organoid platform from academic concept through customer discovery to commercial validation, alongside senior scientific and R&D leadership roles at Sartorius Stedim BioOutsource, amsbio, and the Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester and Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Glasgow and a BSc in Chemistry and Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He works with founders and leadership teams to connect ambitious biotech and life sciences technology to real clinical and commercial need: pressure-testing whether a platform actually answers a problem the market will pay to solve, identifying the right comparator or gold standard a new technology needs to beat, and translating complex biology into decision-ready direction for non-specialist stakeholders. He typically operates as a hands-on scientific and commercial advisor, pairing deep domain expertise with a clear-eyed read on what will and won't get funded, adopted, or reimbursed.
It's not about the patient's need in the abstract - it's whether there's a company somewhere that would actually buy your product one day.
Good
match for
Life sciences, biotech and MedTech founders building novel platforms, disease models or diagnostics who need a reality check on product-market fit before committing further R&D or fundraising effort - for example, validating that a new assay or model genuinely displaces an existing clinical standard, identifying which disease area or customer segment a technology is best positioned for, or preparing a scientific story that will hold up to pharma or clinical due diligence. Particularly strong fit for early-to-growth-stage companies in oncology, kidney, liver, cardiac, bone and women's health, and for teams navigating the gap between compelling science and a fundable commercial proposition.
Elad Katz's industry experience
Biotech & pharma
Drug discovery & preclinical R&D
MedTech & diagnostics
Women's health
Oncology & translational research
Academic spin-outs & venture creation
When to bring us in
Typical decisions
The critical technology decisions leaders face when delivery, investment or product direction is at risk.We're comparing our technology to an existing clinical gold standard - is that even the right comparison, and how do we position against it?
We're a small biotech team and don't have deep domain expertise in the disease area we're now targeting - who can help us assess the opportunity credibly?
We need to translate complex biological or clinical data into a story that investors, pharma partners, or non-specialist stakeholders will actually understand and back?
We're deciding which disease area or customer segment to prioritise for our platform - how do we make that call with confidence?
We're moving from an academic or early-stage concept toward a spin-out or venture - what needs to be true commercially before we take that leap?
We're building a drug discovery or disease-modelling platform and aren't sure it's compatible with how pharma and biotech customers actually run their screening workflows - how do we find out?
We have promising preclinical data, but we don't know if it's strong enough, or the right kind of evidence, to support a partnership or licensing conversation?
We're applying for accelerator, grant, or pre-spinout programmes and need to pressure-test our business case and de-risk the opportunity before we go in?
We're trying to secure IP or design-right protection for a platform or method and aren't sure how that affects our commercial or fundraising position?
Examples
Co-founded and lead Navigate Precision Biology, taking proprietary NaviPlate hardware and engineered NaviCells platforms from academic concept through IP protection, customer discovery, and commercial validation.
Directed translational 3D disease-modelling teams across oncology, cardiac, renal, and fibrotic indications, developing custom quantitative image-analysis pipelines for drug efficacy benchmarking.
Managed small-molecule screening cascades at Dundee's Drug Discovery Unit, engineering reproducible 384-well HTS phenotypic assays for ciliopathies and complex signaling targets.
Advised biotech and diagnostic ventures on clinical gold-standard positioning (e.g. non-invasive biomarkers vs. biopsy), sharpening go-to-market strategy, target product profiles, and clinical credibility.
Built and led technical services teams at Sartorius BioOutsource, growing commercial assay revenue while doubling in-house GxP/ICH-compliant functional testing capacity.
Catalysed industry-academic collaborations that spun out ScreenIn3D at AMSBIO, backed by 27 peer-reviewed publications and competitive UKRI ICURe and Scottish Enterprise translation awards.
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