Boon Lim

Boon Lim is the Chief Technology Officer of Oxford SimCell Limited, a spinout company from Oxford University. His work focuses on tackling the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and he is pioneering the use of the SimCell platform to create vaccines from genome-free bacterial cells.

In his role, he leads the R&D operations of Oxford SimCell and has successfully implemented the SimCell platform in multiple bacterial species. By converting bacteria into SimCell, their surface features remain intact while they can no longer replicate due to the loss of their genome.

Boon’s innovative idea of using SimCell as a vaccine represents a new paradigm in disease control, particularly in preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is considered a "priority 1: critical" pathogen by the World Health Organization due to its lethality and high level of antibiotic resistance. Despite over 20 years of research, no novel therapeutic approach to treatment of resistant P. aeruginosa has entered the market. Lim is applying SimCell technology to develop whole-cell inactivated vaccines against P. aeruginosa.

His work and leadership at Oxford SimCell Limited have demonstrated his ability to pioneer novel technologies and provide innovative solutions to address public health challenges.