Dr. Michael Roberts is Founder and CEO of Chromatin Bioscience, a biotechnology company pioneering synthetic promoter technology for gene and cell therapies. His expertise in synthetic biology drives the development of the chromatinLENS platform, which enables precise, cell-type-selective gene expression for advanced therapeutics.

Dr. Roberts holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge and a first-class honors degree from the University of Glasgow. He previously founded Synpromics in 2010, which was successfully acquired by AskBio in 2019 and subsequently by Bayer.

Roberts has over 20 years of experience at board and senior management levels in the biotech industry. He completed postdoctoral work at Royal Holloway, University of London developing gene therapies for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and held a Marie Curie fellowship in Greece.

Chromatin Bioscience has secured collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson, Astellas, and Purespring Therapeutics. The company joined JLABS EMEA in 2025 and has received support from Scottish Enterprise.

Chromatin's synthetic promoters have been integral to EsoBiotec's ESO-T01 CAR-T therapy, the first in vivo BCMA CAR-T candidate to reach clinical trials. The company's technology enables precise gene expression control across gene therapy, cell therapy, and biologics manufacturing applications.