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Name: Ricardo Manuel

Surnames: Benites da Costa

Phone: +34 691 831 631

e-mail: ricardo.costa@cantab.net

skype: rc_s386yak

LinkedIn: es.linkedin.com/in/ricardobenitesdacosta/

Objective

I am a biomedical researcher with 15 years of international experience in top-notch institutions,

coupled with specific management training, the understanding of leadership, business know-how

and a friendly personality. I am looking for opportunities to transform research and scientific

knowledge into the creation of value to society. I have national and international mobility.

Current Position

Researcher 05/2014 – Present

Dr. Nadia Mercader Laboratory

Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC)

Instituto Nacional de Salud Carlos III

The Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Center has been granted the Severo Ochoa Excellence award and is an established institution in the international scientific arena, able to attract

€10 million annually. My main role is the technical, administrative and scientific support of the Principal Investigator and the research group, including the coordination of internal and external

collaborative projects. These tasks include scientific and technical achievement under designated

projects.

Education

2004 – PhD Biology University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology and Jesus College – United Kingdom

2001 – Wellcome Trust Developmental Biology PhD Program University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology and Jesus College – United Kingdom

2000 – Gulbenkian PhD Program Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Lisbon – Portugal

1999 – Licenciatura (Biochemistry degree) Universidade de Coimbra, Faculty of Science and Technology – Portugal

Previous Positions

Business Development Manager 09/2013 – 03/2014

NANOIMMUNOTECH, S.L., Zaragoza

NANOIMMUNOTECH is a nanobiotechnology start-up offering a complete range of products,

services and tailor-made projects in the design and production of nanoparticles and complex

nanosystems by means of bioconjugation. I was responsible for the representation of the company,

lead generation, forecasts, quotes and sales, from budgeting to marketing support. Also, I was

responsible for the functional coordination of all areas of the company and the identification,

evaluation and development of business opportunities among other roles.

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Marie Curie Intra-European Research Fellow 03/2010 – 12/2012

Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) – www.cnic.es

Advisor: Dr. Miguel Torres – Associate Director

Research Associate 06/2006 – 02/2010

Healing Foundation Research Fellowship – www.hfctr.manchester.ac.uk

Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Manchester

Advisor: Prof. Enrique Amaya – Head of the Healing Foundation Centre

Research Associate 12/2004 – 06/2006

The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge – www.gurdon.cam.ac.uk

Prof. Enrique Amaya Laboratory

PhD Student 10/2000 – 12/2004

The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge – www.gurdon.cam.ac.uk

(a.k.a., The Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute)

Prof. Sir John Gurdon Laboratory (2012 Nobel Laureate) and Dr. Enrique Amaya Laboratory

Advisors: Prof. Aaron Zorn and Prof. Enrique Amaya

Management Training and Education

2013 – Management Fundamentals and Skills for Scientists and Researchers

International Executive Education Program – Linking Science to Business

Instituto de Empresa Business School, Madrid, Spain

The Instituto de Empresa master's and executive education programs have been ranked among the best in the world in lists drawn up by key publications that include the Financial Times,

BusinessWeek, Forbes, The Economist, Aspen Institute and América Economía.

2012 – Leadership and Management Skills – Workshop by hfp consulting

hfp consulting (Saso Kocevar, EMBL, Heidelberg) offers to the international scientific community

leadership skills training, management, coaching and presentation skills courses with main clients

being the European Molecular Biology Organisation, Harvard Medical School, the MIT and the

Weizmann Institute.

2010 – Level 5 Management Award by the Institute of Leadership and Management, London – UK

The Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) is an independent organization which exists to

develop leadership and management capability and knowledge in individuals and organizations, it

develops the core knowledge and practical skills you need to manage, motivate and inspire others, unlock staff potential, increase engagement and enable change.

Enrolled – Health-2-Market – An initiative funded by the European Commission aimed at developing

entrepreneurial skills and knowledge to support market exploitation of research results

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Grants, Fellowships, Awards and Prizes • Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (€ 153.000 – 2 years)

• Healing Foundation Fellowship (£ 170,000 – 3 years)

• Fund raising from private sponsors of the Healing Foundation (£ 75,000)

• Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portuguese Government PhD fellowship (4 years)

• Best Research Project Competition, 2nd place, Faculty of Life-Sciences, University of Manchester

Languages

Proficient in English, Spanish and Portuguese (mother language)

Publications

• Rodius S, Nazarov PV, Nepomuceno-Chamorro IA, Jeanty C, González-Rosa JM, Ibberson M, da

Costa RM, Xenarios I, Mercader N, Azuaje F. Transcriptional response to cardiac injury in the

zebrafish: systematic identification of genes with highly concordant activity across in vivo models.

BMC Genomics. 2014;15: 852

• Costa R, Chen Y, Paredes R, Amaya E. Labeling primitive myeloid progenitor cells in Xenopus.

Methods Molecular Biology 2012; 916: 141-55

• Chen Y, Costa RM, Love NR, Soto X, Roth M, Paredes R, Amaya E. C/EBPα initiates primitive

myelopoiesis in pluripotent embryonic cells. Blood. 2009 July 2; 114(1): 40-48

• Costa RM, Soto X, Chen Y, Zorn AM, Amaya E. spib is required for primitive myeloid development

in Xenopus. Blood. 2008 Sep 15; 112(6):2287-96

• Costa RM, Mason J, Lee M, Amaya E, Zorn AM. Novel gene expression domains reveal early

patterning of the Xenopus endoderm. Mechanisms of Development, Gene Expression Patterns. 2003

Aug; 3(4): 509-19

• Costa RM. Endodermal patterning in Xenopus laevis. PhD thesis. University of Cambridge 2004

Skills (Business)

• Soft skills such as negotiation, coaching, mentoring and active listening (ILM course)

• Identification of opportunities and gathering of funds through presentation to private capital

(Healing Foundation Sponsors) and preparation of successful grant applications (Marie-Curie IEF).

• Communication skills developed at speaker training camps by “Javier Bernad” (2013)

• Company representation in fairs and trade-shows (NANOIMMUNOTECH)

• Conflict resolution and self-awareness fine-tuned (HFP workshop)

• Project management tools, accounting, finance, legal issues (IE Executive Program)

• Media communication (Radio, Television and Press Releases). Workshop at the RTVE Institute

(Spanish National Public Television and Radio Institute) organized by Graziela Almendral.

• Awareness of leadership issues, being part of research groups where its leader have also been

the leaders of the Institution (The Gurdon Institute, Healing Foundation, CNIC).

• Development of budget and forecast for a start-up company (NANOIMMUNOTECH)

• Draft of business plans and presentation to investors (Pre-CliM, IE Executive Program)

• Presentations of own work to the research group routinely, at the institutional level and in

international conferences, workshops and meetings.

• Mentoring of PhD students

• Entrepreneurship, marketing and customer relations (Instituto de Empresa Executive Program)

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• Close contact with Technology Transfer Offices (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones

Cardiovasculares and Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncologicas).

• Project management skills, through all dealings related to the Healing Foundation Grant and

the Intra-European Marie Curie Fellowship.

• Coordination capacity (set-up of Healing Foundation facilities at the U. of Manchester).

Skills (Personal)

• Dynamic, self-motivated, result-oriented, with a focus on people and attentive to detail.

• Leadership, people and communication skills developed at a Change and People

Management Program at the University of Manchester

• Independent minded, modest and caring when it regards to relationships with people. Scored

as innovative, adaptable, forward thinking, conceptual and detail conscious when it regards

thinking style. Tough-minded, emotionally controlled, trusting, achieving and decisive are also

adjectives that receive high scores under feelings and emotions on personality tests.

• Confident to be successful under demanding circumstances.

Skills (Scientific and Technical)

• Lifescience expertise; Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular and Cell Biology,

specialized in the field of Developmental Biology.

• Broad range of knowledge acquired through the years through several teaching-learning

excellent experiences that include, a biotechnology “drop-in” master class in 1999, the

Gulbenkian PhD Program in Biomedicine and the Welcome Trust PhD Program at the

University of Cambridge.

• The Gulbenkian PhD Program in Biomedicine included an exceptional 1-year education

Program with over 50 international top-researchers as faculty and where a variety of topics in

modern biology were covered including proteomics, cell cycle, immunology, nuclear cell

biology, plant development, evolution and development, virology, neurobiology, neural

circuits, animal behavior, protein chemistry (details upon request)

• Hematology and Stem Cell Biology as themes of research.

• Cell-signaling, cell-fate specification, ETS transcription factors.

• Proficient in all current molecular biology techniques

• Extensive use of transgenic animal models through research in amphibians and fish

• Command of bioinformatics through own research and involvement in genome annotation

projects

Participation on Selected Research Projects

• ERC Starting Grant (StG), LS4, ERC-2013-StG to Dr. Nadia Mercader 2013-2018

Novel insights into cardiac regeneration through studies in the zebrafish.

• Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship – to Dr. Ricardo Costa 2010-2012

Unravel new roles of hematopoietic stem cells in the development of the vasculature.

• Healing Foundation Fellowship – to Dr. Ricardo Costa, PI Enrique Amaya 2007-2010

Characterization of the role of first-born myeloid cells during development and regeneration.

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• PhD research project – Advisors Dr. Aaron Zorn and Dr. Enrique Amaya 2000-2004

Endoderm Patterning in Xenopus laevis.

References

Further or more specific references available upon request.

Dr. Nadia Mercader

nmercader@cnic.es

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones

Cardiovasculares

Calle Melchor Fernandez Almagro 3

28029 Madrid

Phone +34 91 4531200 ext 3117

Dr. Miguel Torres

mtorres@cnic.es

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones

Cardiovasculares

Fundación CNIC Carlos III

Instituto de Salud Carlos III

Calle Melchor Fernandez Almagro, 3

28029 Madrid

Phone +34 91 4531200 ext 3107