Michael Nilges

Michael Nilges is a Professor at Institut Pasteur, where he has led the Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry since 2006. He previously headed the Structural Bioinformatics Unit at Institut Pasteur (from 2001) and the Protein Modelling Group at EMBL Heidelberg (1992–2001). His academic career spans institutions like Yale University, NIH, and Max Planck Institute, with a focus on structural bioinformatics and NMR spectroscopy.

• Habilitation in organic chemistry and biophysical chemistry (2000)
• Ph.D. in chemistry (1987, TU Munich)
• Diplom in theoretical physics (1985, LMU Munich)
• Studied physics at LMU Munich and University of Bristol (1978–1985)

His research centers on structural bioinformatics, NMR spectroscopy, and hybrid methods for molecular structure determination. He has pioneered computational approaches in structural biology and contributed to validation standards for NMR structures in the Protein Data Bank.

Nilges has received prestigious awards including the ERC Advanced Grant (2011) and Therese Lebrasseur Prize (2009). He held competitive fellowships from Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NIH, and Max Planck Society during his postdoctoral training.

• Editorial Board Member: Computational Biology and Chemistry
• Editorial Board Member: Journal of Biomolecular NMR
• Guest Editor: PLoS Structural Biology

He has served on numerous scientific committees, including the Protein Data Bank task forces, CNRS national committee, and ERC panels, demonstrating leadership in structural biology and computational methods.