Jun 16, 2022

I'm starting a new research group!

I’m excited to announce that on 1st October I will be starting as an assistant professor in Linköping University in Sweden and starting my own research group. The initial funding is provided by the SciLifeLab initiative, as a Data-Driven Life Sciences (DDLS) fellowship, funded by the Wallenberg foundation.

The focus of the new group is “Data-Driven Determination of Macromolecular Structures”. Although macromolecular structure determination has been hugely successful in understanding the functions of macromolecules through structure, the level of detail in atomic models is nowhere near the dynamic ensemble that we know real proteins must look like (think about the differences between an MD simulation and a normal macromolecular model). Additionally, much of the final steps of modelling is still performed and evaluated by humans. The aim of my group is to make structural biology more data-driven by developing new computational and experimental approaches to structure determination using advanced data science and machine learning techniques. Using these new methods, we will be able to drastically reduce the amount of human decision-making in the process of structure determination while gaining access to unprecedented levels of detail. As we develop more detailed models of macromolecules, we will be able to qualitatively and quantitatively understand much more about the flexibility of macromolecules from structural data, with an aim to changing the way that we routinely determine macromolecular structures.

As part of the group start-up funding, I have 2 PhDs and 2 postdocs positions available, and am looking for people to join the team! The group sits at the interface of physics, biochemistry and data science so we welcome applications from applicants with all backgrounds. More details will be put here, when available.