Joel Roca Martinez

Joel Roca Martinez is a Research Fellow at Vrije Universiteit Brussel's Faculty of Science and Bio-engineering Sciences, Department of Bio-engineering Sciences. His work centers on computational analysis of RNA recognition motifs and protein structures through the Federated Labs AI and Robotics initiative and Bio2Byte research group.

His research focuses on RNA recognition mechanisms, particularly RNA Recognition Motifs (RRMs), using computational modeling, molecular dynamics simulations, and machine learning approaches. Key projects include RRMScorer for predicting RNA-binding preferences and ConforMine for analyzing protein conformational states. His work bridges structural biology, bioinformatics, and synthetic biology with applications in viral research (SARS-CoV-2) and protein engineering.

Publications show progression from foundational RNA-protein interaction studies (2023) to integrated computational-experimental approaches (2024-2025), increasingly incorporating AlphaFold2 and advanced simulation techniques. His fingerprint reveals strong emphasis on RNA Recognition Motif (100%), RNA-Binding Motifs (36%), and Computational Analysis (29%).

He actively participates in research dissemination through workshops like RNAct (2021-2022), conferences including the Netherlands Society on Biomolecular Modelling Fall Meeting (2022), and public lectures such as WiseNight (2021). His secondment at Giotto Biotech (Florence, 2021) demonstrates industry collaboration, while media coverage of his RNAct work reached 40+ Mendeley readers.

He contributes to major collaborative projects including Bio2Byte SARS-CoV-2 and protein ambiguity research, working closely with Prof. Wim Vranken. His datasets on Zenodo and Bitbucket support open science practices, particularly in RNA-binding prediction and conformational analysis.