Matt Longshaw
Science Director: Clinical nutrition, Animal health, Research intelligence
Matt has a PhD in veterinary pathology and parasitology from the University of Plymouth, an MSc in fisheries science and a BSc in biological sciences. He began his career working for the UK government, initially in Scotland before moving to Cefas Weymouth in 1995, leaving there as a senior research scientist in 2013 having headed up a team working on a range of topics including research and diagnostics pathology, parasite taxonomy, mathematical modelling, welfare and pharmaceutical testing. Leaving government science, he moved to an animal health company as a development manager, focussing on R&D and commercialisation of antiparasitic pharmaceuticals for the aquaculture industry. He subsequently joined Calysta in 2021, where he was responsible for the initiation and delivery of all studies related to the inclusion of Methylococcus capsulatus in livestock, pet and aquaculture feeds. He has published extensively in the areas of animal nutrition and health, focussing on the link between contaminants, disease and feed ingredients with individual and population level effects. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.
Alexandra Wesker
Technical Director: Nutritional services, Animal health, Market entry
Alexandra Wesker guides innovative startups and established companies by highlighting the value of their ingredient or product to the pet food market. As an Animal Scientist, she combines science-backed technical understanding with market dynamics. Her expertise helps companies navigate product formulation, declarations and claimed ingredient functionality. Teams benefit from her training sessions on legislation and ingredient claims, and she develops scientific dossiers to substantiate functional ingredient claims. She uses her discerning eye for pet nutrition to determine what pets really need, owners want, and manufacturers can produce. Alexandra regularly writes for trade magazines and speaks at events.
