Jon Agirre

Dr. Jon Agirre is a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York. His research focuses on integrative structural glycobiology, particularly in developing computational tools for modeling carbohydrate structures in biomolecules. He leads the Glycojones team, which has contributed widely used software like Privateer and Iris. His work addresses structural gaps in glycoprotein modeling, leveraging machine learning to enhance AlphaFold predictions and cryo-EM/X-ray crystallography methods.

• Affiliations: University of York (2017–present), Royal Society Fellowship holder.
• Education: PhD in Biophysics (UPV/EHU, Spain, 2009), Computer Engineering degree (2002).

Research interests center on carbohydrate interactions with proteins, structural validation, and computational methods for glycobiology. His team’s Privateer software aids in glycan structure validation, critical for studies like SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein analysis. Recent work emphasizes integrating glycomics data and improving AlphaFold’s glycan modeling capabilities.

Awards include the RSC Horizon Prize (2021). He collaborates internationally, with funding from the Royal Society, BBSRC, and others. Teaching roles span molecular visualization, protein structure prediction, and data science in chemistry.