Chris Oostenbrink

Chris Oostenbrink is a University Professor at the Institute of Molecular Modeling and Simulation, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. He has held this position since 2009, following prior roles as a University Lecturer at VU University Amsterdam (2004-2009). His academic journey includes a Dr. Nat.Sci. in Physical Chemistry from ETH Zurich (2000-2004) and MSc degrees in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences from VU University Amsterdam.

• Key Research Areas: Molecular dynamics simulations, free energy calculations, biomolecular modeling, soil organic matter interactions, protein-ligand binding, quantum-classical hybrid methods (QM/MM), computational drug design.
• Notable Contributions: Development of enhanced sampling techniques for free-energy calculations, structural refinement methods combining experimental data with simulations, and mechanistic studies of enzymes like cytochromes P450 and lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases.

His scientific output spans computational biology, soil science, and pharmaceutical applications. Recent work focuses on polarizable QM/MM simulations with machine learning, free-energy methods in drug design, and molecular modeling of soil systems.

He has presented extensively at international conferences, including keynote addresses at the Virapid Workshop 2024 and the Free Energy Methods in Drug Design Workshop. His scientific services include editorial roles (e.g., Associate Editor for Living Journal of Computational Molecular Science) and peer-review activities for over 20 journals.