Riccardo's Homepage

Background

I began my doctorate in bioinformatics, in the Structural Bioinformatics Group of Prof. Mike J.E. Sternberg at Imperial College London in October 2002, working with Dr. Lawrence Kelley, Alex Herbert and Dr. Keiran Fleming on a project to design and implement a new protein structure prediction server called Phyre (Protein Homology/analogY Recognition Engine). Phyre was intended to succeed 3D-PSSM (a highly regarded prediction server and top performer at CASP4 in 2000).

My thesis was entitled "Development of an Enhanced Fold Recognition Ensemble System for Protein Structure Prediction". Transcripts of my thesis are available for the printed version or the web version.

In October 2005 I began a post-doctoral as an Enterprise Fellow with the Royal Society of Edinburgh (funded by the BBSRC), doing an MBA in Academic Enterprise (taught in association with the University of Dundee).

Current Work

I am currently working with Equinox Pharma Ltd, a spin-out company from Imperial College London, in order to develop the company and to commercialize academic research (including Phyre)

Curriculum Vitae/Resume

If you want, you can peruse my full CV.

Other things

I started dancing Salsa midway through 2003, so I can now handle myself on the dance floor without shame (at long last!). Let's just say: if you like music and flirting, then you will love salsa!

My other hobbies include playing the harmonica, for which I've written a few tutorials. They've been quite popular on the web over the past few years.

People are often surprised to hear that I am actually a dual citizen; both British and Slovene. My occasional reticence to pronouce vowels properly is the only accental lilt that betrays my attempts at the Queen's English. I was born in Trieste, Italy, just over the Slovene border back in 1979 (several months before the death of Marshal Tito) a few miles from my familial home town of Portorož. This area of Slovenia is bilingual speaking both Slovene and Italian as first languages. I ended up speaking Italian as my mother tongue (now intensely rusty). I came to England in 1986 (via the Middle East and various other places) and have been here ever since. I, not unnaturally, grew up a little confused. My sense of identity has found stronger ground ever since Slovenia won independence in 1991. Slovenia is a very small and beautiful mediterranean country with a surprisingly rich history and culture. I would seriously recommend that you visit if you are ever presented with the opportunity. If you would like to find out a bit more you can try this info page. My up-bringing has left me with a profound interest in comparative cultural studies and linguistics, and in the past I have (formally and casually) studied English, German, French and Italian.

That's pretty much it. If I think of anything new I'll let you know. Hvala lepa in vse najboljše! (Translation: Grazie mille ed arrivederla!)

Contact Details

I am easily contactable at riccardo@cantab.net, or alternatively, you can try the an old-fashioned approach and write to:-

Dr. Riccardo Matjaž Bennett-Lovsey
Business Development Manager
Equinox Pharma Ltd
BioIncubator Unit
Bessemer Building
Prince Consort Road
London
SW7 2BP
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7594 6816
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7594 6824