Nuno Arantes‐Oliveira is an entrepreneur, investor and academic with a scientific background and an interest in innovation, particularly in Life Sciences and in Healthcare. As a graduate student, Nuno worked on the genetics of aging at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) under Prof. Cynthia Kenyon, and led the efforts that achieved the largest lifespan extension ever observed in any living being (more than 6‐fold), which in turn originated a string of papers, including three in the journal Science. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 2002, Nuno worked as a post-doc on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology, and at the same time became the first Managing Director of a pioneer technology-transfer company focused on commercializing scientific breakthroughs stemming from Portuguese R&D organizations. Later, Nuno launched Alfama, one of the first drug development companies to originate from Portugal, which was then voted the Best Start-up in Europe. Alfama, Inc. was incorporated in the United States (Cambridge, MA) and through growth and acquisitions became the dominant player in the field of carbon monoxide (CO)-based therapies, before being itself acquired by Proterris, Inc., of Boston. Nuno also founded Coimbra Genomics S.A. (voted a top‐3 promise in European e-Health, 2015) and helped launch the Innovation and Translational Research Units of IPATIMUP, a leading cancer research institute (now part of I3S). In the meantime, Nuno served as President of P‐BIO – Portugal’s Biotechnology Industry Organization from 2011 to 2015 and sat on the board of Health Cluster Portugal from 2008 to 2013. Nuno has had other multiple board, advisory, and expert roles internationally, including with Government authorities and top‐tier research organizations, and has negotiated and implemented business and scientific collaborations in Europe, the U.S., China, Africa, and Latin America. He also took executive courses at Harvard Business School and other prominent schools. Through his personal company, Nuno owns a pediatric specialties clinic in Lisbon and has advised technology-based ventures in many countries, in fields ranging from new oncology drugs (Revere Pharmaceuticals, Boston, MA) to microbiome-based therapies (PharmaBiome, Zurich). Presently, Nuno is also an advisor to the Rectorate of NOVA University Lisbon, serves as the Chairman of the Board of pioneer shellfish aquaculture startup Oceano Fresco S.A., and is the Chairman of the Investment Committee of 200M, a venture capital co-investment fund supported by the Portuguese Government. In October 2019, Nuno launched Clinical Research Ventures (CRV), a Singapore-based global investment vehicle for biotech companies, of which he is a Partner and Chairman of the Board. Keeping one foot in academia, Nuno was an invited assistant professor of the MIT‐Portugal Program (2015-18) and is now an invited associate professor at Nova School of Business and Economics (Nova SBE), where he teaches science-based entrepreneurship.
Main Skills
- Biotech
- Drug development
- Strategic planning
- Fundraising
- Tech transfer.
Areas of interest for mentoring
- Fundraising
- Business development
- Strategic partnerships
- Board setup
- International expansion
Motivation to be a mentor
- Access to exciting ideas;
- Contact with young entrepreneurs;
- Sharing experience;
- Give back to society.
Availability
- Online