Janusz Bujnicki

Janusz Bujnicki is a Professor and head of the Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Protein Engineering at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (IIMCB), Poland. He holds concurrent roles in science policy advisory bodies, including the European Commission's Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (2015-2020, then expert) and the Polish Academy of Sciences’ advisory panel (2024-). He is also a founding member of the Association of ERC Grantees (AERG) and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Life Science Center at Vilnius University.

• Academia Europaea Member (2018-)
• EMBO Member (2018-)
• Leadership Academy for Poland (2018)

His research spans structural biology, RNA modification, computational biology, and molecular evolution. He has pioneered computational methods like ModeRNA, SimRNA, and ClaRNA for RNA structure prediction and analysis, and developed databases like MODOMICS for RNA modification pathways. His work has applications in understanding RNA function and drug design targeting RNA-processing enzymes.

The 15 most recent publications focus on RNA structural modeling (e.g., ModeRNA, ClaRNA, SupeRNAlign), RNA-ligand interactions (LigandRNA), and RNA modification biology (MODOMICS database). These works bridge computational methods with experimental validation in RNA enzymology and structure-function relationships.

• Scientific Awards: ERC Starting Grant (2010), EMBO Member (2018), Crystal Brussels Sprout (2016), Prime Minister’s Award (2014), Knight’s Cross of Polonia Restituta (2014)
• Grants & Leadership: Founded RNA bioinformatics infrastructure at IIMCB, led EU science policy advisory groups, and organized international research competitions (RNA Puzzles)