TEF Talks with Constantin Coussios, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at Oxford and Co-founder of OrganOx

What does it take for a university professor to build a company worth $1.5 billion?

Constantin Coussios knows. In 2008, together with transplant surgeon Peter Friend, he co-founded OrganOx with a bold idea: instead of keeping donor organs on ice, keep them functioning at body temperature until transplant.

Seventeen years later, their device, metra, has supported more than 6,000 liver transplants worldwide, and OrganOx has been acquired by Terumo Corporation for $1.5 billion.

It is the largest exit ever for a University of Oxford spin-out, delivering a 50x return to the founding investors who backed it in 2008.

And he didn’t stop there. While leading a lab of around 50 researchers and directing Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, he went on to co-found OxSonics and OrthoSon, becoming one of Europe’s most successful academic founders in medtech.

To tell this story in full Luca de Angelis - CEO of TEF - sits down with him, for a new edition of TEF Talks.

SAVE THE DATE

November, 16 at 6:00 PM

Location: Milan - Palazzo Giureconsulti

Why attend?

Hear first-hand the story behind the largest exit in Oxford University’s history

Learn how an academic career can become a launchpad for building and scaling multiple deep tech companies

Get insights into medtech, clinical validation, fundraising and exits in Europe

Only 100 spots are available. Participation is free, but registration is required to secure your spot.

AGENDA

06:00 PM – 06:30 PM | Guest Arrival06:30 PM – 07:15 PM | TEF Talks: Luca de Angelis, CEO of TEF, in conversation with Constantin Coussios, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at Oxford and Co-founder of OrganOx07:15 PM – 07:30 PM | Q&A time07:30 PM – 08:30 PM | Networking aperitivo

WHO IS CONSTANTIN COUSSIOS:

Constantin Coussiosis Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation and Professor and Statutory Chair of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oxford, as well as Director of the Podium Institute for Sports Medicine and Technology. At Oxford he leads the BUBBL lab (~50 researchers) and directed the Institute of Biomedical Engineering from 2016 to 2025. Trained in Engineering at Cambridge, he has turned his research into three companies: OrganOx (2008), OxSonics (2014) and OrthoSon (2016). He was appointed OBE for services to biomedical engineering in 2022 and is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medical Sciences.