Marina Rubini

Dr. Marina Rubini is a permanent Assistant Professor in Chemical Biology at University College Dublin's School of Chemistry since October 2016. Prior to this position, she served as a Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich (2016), an Independent Group Leader at the University of Konstanz (2012-2016), and held postdoctoral positions at both the University of Konstanz and Technical University of Munich.

• PhD from Technische Universität München, Germany

Dr. Rubini's research focuses on innovative approaches to protein engineering through non-natural amino acids. Her work spans several interconnected areas: developing semisynthetic methods to engineer therapeutic proteins to study post-translational modifications; synthesizing and incorporating non-natural amino acids to investigate protein folding mechanisms; engineering enzymes for biocatalysis; and creating fluorinated antifungal peptides. She has made significant contributions to understanding how proline analogues can influence protein stability and folding kinetics, with numerous publications in high-impact journals.

Analysis of Dr. Rubini's recent publications reveals a strong trend toward applying chemical biology approaches to solve biomedical problems, particularly in the areas of protein therapeutics, antimicrobial development, and structural analysis. Her work often combines synthetic chemistry with biological evaluation, demonstrating translational potential.

Dr. Rubini actively contributes to academic service through multiple committee memberships including the School of Chemistry Equality Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Teaching and Learning Committee, and Research and Innovation Committee (which she chaired from 2018-2021). She serves as an editor for Scientific Reports and is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Her research program is supported by significant grants including the BEACON Partnership with the University of Nottingham (2019-2027), the Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre (2019-2025), and a project on post-translational modifications of therapeutic cytokines (2018-2021). Dr. Rubini coordinates multiple advanced modules in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and has supervised PhD students at University College Dublin.