About Cherwell Scientific

Company Backgrounder

AP Benson Ltd. is a technology consulting and business development firm. We specialize in assisting our clients creating commercially viable businesses based on innovative applications of new or existing technologies. AP Benson acts for both large and small companies and for individuals as well as for providers of capital, including banks, private investors and venture capitalists. AP Benson has a strong focus on the healthcare, software and engineering sectors but operates in other sectors and can draw on expertise across a wide range of disciplines.

Cherwell Scientific, the software publishing imprint of AP Benson Ltd., develops and markets innovative software products and services for research scientists. Our customers include the world's leading pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and biotech companies, and its software is used in many of the world's major universities.

Cherwell Scientific was founded in 1990 as a business specializing in bringing to market innovative scientific software products from around the world. In 1999,Cherwell Scientific business model changed, and the company now concentrates on developing its own in-house solutions for discrete markets within the scientific research community.

Cherwell Scientific is now based in west London and has offices in Reading and Cardiff.
 

Business Focus

Our Cyrillic product line offers pedigree analysis software for genetic researchers, counselors, oncologists, and physicians. More information can be found [here].

Our mathematics-oriented product line, ModelMaker, provides environmental modeling solutions to agrochemical companies, government agencies, and environmental researchers worldwide. The ModelMaker business unit develops and supplies the ModelManager modeling suite and the award-winning ModelMaker software. More information can be found [here].

Our technology business development group AP Benson is engaged in management consultancy, market research and the interim management and business development of businesses based on novel technologies. It works with investors, academic research organisations and innovators to establish markets for new technological products. Please contact apb.software@apbenson.com for more information.

AP Benson has a close relationship with Gore & Company, an insolvency practitioner partnership. AP Benson, by working with Gore & Company engages in turnaround and business re-engineering activities, especially in relation to businesses that have interesting technologies as their core products. Please contact enquiries@goreco.com for more information.
 

Milestones

• 1990 - CyrillicSoftware founded with venture capital
• 1992 - Relocated to the new Oxford Science Park
• 1993 - Cyrillic published worldwide
• 1995 - ModelMaker published worldwide
• 1997 - ChemSymphony rated in top 1% of Java applets by JARS
• 1998 - Launch of ChemSymphony beans; Highest sales ever of EndNote
• 1999 - CyrillicSoftware secures $2.5 million of venture capital funding; ModelManager launched; ModelManager collaboration with Zeneca AgroChemicals and Rhone Poulenc; ChemSymphony collaboration with Abbott Labs; ChemSymphony bought by Merck; Cyrillic V3 launched
• 2000 - CyrillicSoftware and ModelKinetix become the core software businesses in the group; ChemSymphony and Citewise businesses leave the incubator; ChemSymphony sold to NetGenics; CiteWise sold to Adept Scientific
• 2001 - Focus on growth of the AP Benson technology consulting business and continued development of the Cyrillic and ModelMaker businesses. The group relocates to new offices in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, UK.
• 2010 - Restructuring of the business and a move to our new west London HQ at QWest and development of our Reading and Cardiff offices.Tom Girn (Managing Director)

Profiles

Tom Girn (Managing Director)

Tom is a chartered accountant with several years of experience with Price Waterhouse Coopers and Arthur Andersen. He has two degrees in decision sciences and mathematics. Tom has extensive business management experience.

Craig Livingstone (Director)

Craig spent two years in genomics research at SmithKline Beecham before becoming a project manager in their European medical informatics business.  Craig has managed the development of several medical informatics solutions using Internet and XML technologies and participated as expert resource on two acquisitions of medical informatics companies by SB.   Craig has a D.Phil. in Bioinformatics from the University of Oxford.

Cyril Chapman

Cyril Chapman, the original author of the Cyrillic software, has recently retired from the position of Clinical Director for genetics services in Birmingham. He is now an Emeritus Consultant in Clinical Genetics at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford. He trained in clinical genetics in New Zealand, completing a PhD on a segregation analysis of cleft lip and palate families. He worked in Wellington and the University of Auckland before arriving in Oxford in 1993.

The development of the Cyrillic program followed from his interest in pedigree analysis, particularly for the calculation of risks for genetic counseling. The first ideas for the program came in 1987, when graphical interfaces became inexpensive and easily available.

Cyril worked closely with the Cyrillic development team, and served as advisor to Cherwell Scientific in genetics during the development of Cyrillic.