Prof. Jiří Damborský
Head of "Loschmidt laboratories of Protein Engineering" research programme

Jiří Damborský is the Josef Loschmidt Chair Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University and a research programme leader at the RECETOX. HIs research focuses on protein engineering and translational medicine. The groups develop new concepts and software tools for protein engineering (Caver, CaverDock, Caver Web, Hotspot Wizard, FireProt, Enzyme Miner, SoluProt) and prediction of the effect of mutations on human health (Predict SNP1, Predict SNP2, Predict SNP Onco). The group studies molecular mechanisms of Alzheimer’s and develops new thrombolytic drugs for treatment of acute stroke.

He has published >200 original articles, 20 book chapters and filed 6 international patents. He has h-index 39 and has been cited 5400 times. He undertook research visits at Center for Biosustainability (Denmark), University of Washington (USA), International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (Poland), Umea University (Sweden), The University of Michigan (USA), University of Groningen (The Netherlands), University of Kent at Canterbury (UK), University of Tennessee (USA) and University of Utrecht (The Netherlands).

He is a co-founder of the first biotechnology spin-off from Masaryk University Enantis Ltd. and informatics spin-off CaverSoft Ltd. Among the awards and distinctions, he has received the EMBO/HHMI award of the European Molecular Biology Organization and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Czech Head Innovation of Czech Government.

He is involved in teaching the courses Bioinformatics, Life Sciences Seminars, Summer School of Protein Engineering and Hands-on Workshop on Computational Enzyme Design. He is the member of doctoral board in the field of Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology.