Gerhard Ecker

Gerhard Ecker is a Professor of Pharmacoinformatics and Head of the Pharmacoinformatics Research Group at the Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna. He serves as Director of Corporate Program and has held significant leadership roles including Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences (2018-2022) and Vice-Dean (2014-2018).

His educational background includes Pharmacy studies at the University of Vienna (1981-1986), Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry (1986-1991), a post-doctoral stay at the Research Center in Borstel, Germany (1995), and Habilitation for Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Vienna (1998). He was appointed as full professor for Pharmacoinformatics at the University of Vienna in October 2009.

Professor Ecker's research focuses on computational drug design with special emphasis on drug-transporter interactions and in silico safety assessment. His work spans ligand- and structure-based drug design, particularly focused on transmembrane transport proteins, prediction of on- and off-kinetics, and semantic data integration. His group employs advanced computational techniques including machine learning, neural networks, protein homology modeling, and molecular dynamics simulations to address challenges in pharmacology and toxicology.

An analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on solute carrier (SLC) transporters, with numerous studies on SLC6 family members and their role in disease. His work increasingly integrates machine learning approaches with structural biology to predict mutation pathogenicity, transporter inhibition, and drug safety profiles. The research demonstrates a clear trajectory toward more sophisticated computational models that combine chemical and biological fingerprints for improved prediction accuracy.

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2013)

Professor Ecker has coordinated or participated in numerous significant research projects including the Open PHACTS project (semantic integration of public databases), and serves as Speaker of the FWF doctoral programme "Molecular Drug Targets." He has been involved in multiple EU-funded initiatives such as eTOX, K4DD, eTRANSAFE, TransQST, ReSOLUTE, and Risk-Hunt3r, as well as FWF projects like InSilify DrugTox and Vienna Business Agency's AI4HEALTH.

He leads the Pharmacoinformatics Research Group at the University of Vienna, which focuses on developing computational methods for drug design and safety assessment. The group is actively involved in several major collaborative projects including RISK-HUNT3R (focusing on chemical risk assessment) and ReSOLUTE (research on solute carriers for drug discovery). Their work bridges computational approaches with experimental validation to address key challenges in pharmaceutical sciences.