ALBERT PLAZAS

I graduated in Chemistry from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). During my degree, I developed a strong interest in understanding biological systems at the molecular level, which led me to pursue a Master’s degree in Computational Modeling at the joint UB–UPC program. There, I deepened my knowledge of molecular simulations, programming, and data analysis applied to chemical and biological systems.

For my Master’s thesis, I developed a large-scale fragment analysis pipeline and performed molecular dynamics simulations to study biomolecular mechanisms, combining computational chemistry, scripting, and automation. This work strengthened my interest in using simulations to explore protein behavior and guide rational drug design.

Currently, I am a PhD student in Computational Chemistry at the Universitat de Barcelona, within the Computational Biology Chemistry & Gastronomy (CBCG) group, under the supervision of Prof. Carolina Estarellas and Prof. Francisco Javier Luque. My research focuses on simulating the Mycobacterium tuberculosis inner membrane and studying the molecular mechanisms of the NADH dehydrogenase (Ndh) complex using coarse-grained and atomistic molecular dynamics. The goal is to design competitive inhibitors of Ndh as potential therapeutic strategies against tuberculosis.

Outside academia, I enjoy going to the gym, playing video games, and learning new ways to combine science, coding, and creativity.