Profile
Abstract
Jens Meiler graduated in chemistry at Leipzig University and then did his doctorate at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt under Christian Griesinger. From 2001 he was a postdoc at Washington University in Seattle. There he was involved in the development of the protein modeling software Rosetta in David Baker's group. In 2005 he was appointed to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. His research combines computer-aided processes with experimental methods in order to better understand proteins and their interactions with active substances and other biomolecules.
Jens Meiler develops computer-aided methods in the areas of: structure determination of membrane proteins, computer-aided drug research, and the design of new protein therapeutics. At the beginning of 2020, Jens Meiler became the director of the newly founded Institute for Drug Development at Leipzig University with a Humboldt Professorship.
Professional career
- since 01/2020
Humboldt Professor and Director of the Institute for Drug Discovery, Faculty of Medicine, Leipzig University - since 05/2005
Professor for Structural and Chemical Biology at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA - 09/2001 - 04/2005
Postdoctoral researcher at University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Education
- 09/1998 - 08/2001
Graduate Student at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main - 10/1994 - 08/1998
Undergraduate Student in Chemistry
Jens Meiler's research integrates innovative computational approaches of therapeutic design and discovery with experimental validation and optimization.
Specifically, we develop and apply new algorithms to engineer and identify small molecule drugs as well as biologics such as antibodies or vaccines. Therefore, we employ the Rosetta software suite (www.rosettacommons.org) as well as leveraging machine learning algorithms within the BioChemicalLibrary (BCL, www.meilerlab.org). We collaborate with scientists around the world to apply these new algorithms to pressing challenges in human health including cancer, infectious diseases such as Flu or HIV, diseases that affect the brain such as Schizophrenia or Addiction, cardiac arrhythmia, or adiposity/obesity. To effectively execute the iterative cycle of drug development, the Institute for Drug Development is equipped to produce, characterize, and test small molecule drugs as well as biologics. To enable our approach of rational, computer-driven therapeutic design in the first place, we also collaborate to determine in silico the structure of critical human and pathogen protein targets from often limited experimental data.
- show detailsInnovative Rosetta algorithms for comparative modeling and docking of GPCRs (SFB1423/1 A07)Meiler, JensDuration: 01/2020 - 12/2023Funded by: DFG Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: SFB 1423: Strukturelle Dynamik der GPCR-Aktivierung und Signaltransduktion; Pharmazeutische Chemie
- show detailsComputational models of structure, dynamics and evolution of GPCRs (SFB1423/1 Z04)Meiler, JensDuration: 01/2020 - 12/2023Funded by: DFG Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftInvolved organisational units of Leipzig University: SFB 1423: Strukturelle Dynamik der GPCR-Aktivierung und Signaltransduktion; Bioinformatik; Pharmazeutische Chemie; Institut für Medizinische Physik und Biophysik; Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Bioinformatik (IZBI)