Leonard W. Seymour

Leonard W. Seymour
Born	1958 Plymouth, England, UK
Alma mater	University of Manchester (BSc) Keele University (PhD)
Known for	Oncolytic Virotherapy
Scientific career
Fields	Gene Therapy
Institutions	University of Birmingham University of Oxford
Thesis	The mechanism of transcellular transport of immunoglobulin G in yolk-sac tissue  (1985)

Leonard W. Seymour is a Professor of Gene Therapy at the University of Oxford's oncology department. ^[1] As a cancer-oriented translational researcher, he investigates technologies utilised to enhance targeted therapy's (e.g. drugs, genes, oncolytic virus) delivery and develops related biological therapeutics under the support of Cancer Research UK. ^[2]

Early life and education

Professor Seymour was born in Plymouth, United Kingdom, in 1958, and was educated at Plymouth College. He later read Biochemistry at the University of Manchester ^[3] and obtained his PhD from Keele University, submitting a thesis on "The mechanism of transcellular transport of immunoglobulin G in yolk-sac tissue" in 1985. ^[4]

Career

He later formed a research group focused on gene delivery at the Cancer Research UK Institute in Birmingham, and then relocated to the University of Oxford in 2003 as Gene Therapy lead for the National Translational Cancer Research Network (NTRAC). There, he took part in forming the British Society for Gene Therapy (BSCGT) as a means to build the translational gene and cell therapy community within the UK. ^[5]

Seymour served as the first President of the BSGCT from 2003 to 2009, ^[6] currently serves as the General Secretary of the European Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, ^[7] is indexed in Who's Who, ^[8] and has produced approximately 140 primary scientific publications, with over 7,000 citations ^[9] .

With Dr. Kerry Fisher, Prof. Seymour formed a biotech spinout company 'Hybrid Systems' ^[10] which later became ‘PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd’, with Cancer Research UK and the University of Birmingham. ^[11] PsiOxus is now developing a cancer-killing 'oncolytic' group B adenovirus 'ColoAd1' in a series of clinical trials to treat cancer. More recently with Dr. Ryan Cawood, Seymour formed the plasmid expression company OxGENE, ^[12] aiming to enable major improvements in the efficiency of genetic engineering and synthetic biology. In 2021, OxGENE was sold to WuXi AppTec for $133 million. ^{[13] [14]}

Personal life

His brother Paul Seymour is a professor of mathematics at Princeton University.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "Len Seymour". www.oncology.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
2. "How we spend your money". cancerresearchuk.org. 8 June 2016.
3. "LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
4. "Keele repository". Keele University. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
5. Seymour LW; Steering Executive Committee of the British Society for Gene Therapy, Trial and error, Lancet, 2003;361(9368):1568.
6. "Len Seymour: This is only the beginning of what gene therapy can do". independent.co.uk. 28 April 2008.
7. "Board Members". www.esgct.eu.
8. "Seymour, Prof. Leonard William, (born 4 Sept. 1958), Professor of Gene Therapies, University of Oxford, since 2002 (Head, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, 2009–10) - WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO". ukwhoswho.com.
9. "Google Scholar: Len Seymour". scholar.google.com. 28 April 2025.
10. "Interview" (PDF). beremans.com.
11. "News Birmingham". birmingham.ac.uk/news-archive.
12. "Home". oxgene.com. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
13. "Oxford Genetics (Oxgene) sells to international life sciences group - Business & Innovation Magazine". 2 March 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
14. "Oxford Genetics (Oxgene) sells to international life sciences group - Business & Innovation Magazine". 2 March 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2025.