TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL

MARCH 2016 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL 25 co leaf in ways that are consumer accept- able. Our research program has several key areas: toxicant reduction strategies, sustainability of tobacco agriculture, and genomics and molecular breeding tools for faster delivery of solutions. BAT's goals in plant biotechnology are to devel- op greater understanding of the genetic drivers for toxicant precursors in tobac- co, sustainability traits, and leaf quality; improve the quality of the tobacco ge- nome sequence to a gold standard level to support continued greater understanding of the tobacco plant and; to grow their molecular breeding program and develop genetic markers for key traits of interest." • Good Research Practice • Securing Innovation John McBrearty, Quality Assurance Manager Before joining BAT, McBrearty worked for 20 years in the p h a r m a c e u t i c a l industry at global companies such as Cyanamid, Wyeth and Pfizer, where he gained a wide range of qualifica- tions, skills and experience to ensure pro- cesses and systems adhere to regulatory standards within the R&D environment. As R&D quality manager, McBrearty en- sures that BAT's systems and processes meet existing regulatory requirements, are well prepared for future requirements and adhere to good research practices. "Good research practice (GRP) de- scribes the culture and processes that R&D have adopted to ensure that our scientific research is conducted in a man- ner that aligns with industry, business, consumer and regulatory expectations." • Analytical Method Development • Chemical Characterization of Next Generation Products Dr. Christopher Wright, Head of Analytical Science A s B A T ' s h e a d of analytical sci- ence, Chris is the chemistry lead for analytical strate- gy and scientific practice. He is an experienced an- alytical chemist with nearly 30 years of research experience in the areas of food, environment, consumer products and tobacco. Dr. Wright joined BAT in 2008, with a focus on improving the robustness of toxicant analysis and the development of exploratory chemical screening programs. He has worked on committees for the International Organization for Standardization, Royal Society of Chemistry, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food/Department of Health scien- tific committees. "We evaluate the chemistry of new products as comprehensively as possi- ble in order to capture/analyze as many substances as possible, and to do this we have developed non-targeted ana- lytical techniques. Although established targeted methods are used to look for and measure very accurately a small number of substances, non-targeted methods are designed to detect the wid- est possible range of substances and to provide semi-quantitative data for ini- tial toxicological assessment." • Population Studies • Assessing the Impact of New Products Oscar Camacho, Computational Tools and Statistics Manager Camacho holds a BSc in Mathematics w i t h S t a t i s t i c s , as well as an MSc i n B i o m e t r i c s , a n d A p p l i e d Bioinformatics. He joined BAT in 2010 as a technical spe- cialist in statistics and now leads a group of data scientists providing support in statistics, bioinfor- matics and mathematical modeling to R&D, while guiding BAT scientists to en- sure sound data analysis techniques, data dissemination and the design of efficient experiments are applied throughout the life cycle of a given study. "The potential impact of a new product is highly complex, as it is con- tingent on not only who consumes the product and in what amounts, but also how and why it is used (e.g., in combi- nation with other nicotine products or as an aid to quit smoking). Moreover, behaviors are dynamic and are likely to change over time, for instance as consumers switch products or quit. To assess fully the potential impact of a product on a population, a model must encompass many variables and be sen- sitive to changes. Our approach, which aligns with previous models recognized by regulators, is based on a compart- mental model using system dynamics." • Stewardship • Leading the Way in Product Risk Assessment Dr. Audrey Richter, Head of Product Stewardship Dr. Richter start- ed her career in m e d i c a l l a b o - r a t o r y s c i e n c e s b e f o r e m o v i n g t o a c a d e m i a , where she spent 15 years at the University of Southampton, both in Medical Oncology, where she gained her PhD, and in Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. Joining BAT in 2002, Dr. Richter set up an in vitro models work program before tak- ing on a series of leadership roles in Biosciences, Smokeless Tobacco Science and Clinical Studies. In her current role, as Head of Product Stewardship, she now ensures that BAT performs rigorous stewardship assessments on

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