Molecular Genetics of Angiogenesis

Rui Benedito graduated in Microbiology and Genetics at the Faculty of Sciences (University of Lisbon) and then did his PhD at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Lisbon) where he became interested in mouse genetics and developmental vascular biology. He then moved to the UK where he did a Postdoc at the London Research Institute (Cancer Research UK) and after in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine. His postdoctoral work focused on understanding the roles of the different Notch and VEGF signalling members in angiogenesis, for which he received the Peter Hans Hofschneider Prize 2009 for the outstanding achievement in the field of molecular medicine and the Werner Risau Prize 2013. His findings have implications for the design of therapies targeting angiogenesis.

After his postdoctoral studies, Rui Benedito joined CNIC as a group leader and received the Fundacion Principe de Girona Science Prize in 2014. At CNIC, his group has developed genetic technology of broad interest (ifgMosaics, iSuRe-Cre, iFlpMosaics, iSuRe-HadCre) and is using it to understand the biology and development of blood vessels at high genetic and cellular resolution. This knowledge will enable the design of better strategies to target blood vessels in cancer or promote their development and function in cardiovascular disease. His group was awarded European Research Council Grants in 2014 (StG) and 2020 (CoG) and several national (MICIU) and "La Caixa" Foundation Health Research grants.