Dr. Björn Wallner

Biography

Björn Wallner is a Professor and Head of the Division of Computational Structural Bioinformatics at Linköping University. His research primarily focuses on protein structure prediction, modeling dynamics using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Wallner has developed multiple sequence embeddings for deep learning applications that form the basis for AlphaFold, which has greatly advanced protein structure prediction. He is deeply involved in the development of the Rosetta software suite for modeling macromolecules and has successfully integrated sparse proximity constraints to achieve unprecedented accuracy, which enables molecular dynamics studies of proteins with known structures. His work often combines computational modeling with experimental techniques to study mutation-dependent conformational ensembles, notably in the P. Aeruginosa gene regulator MexR, which is responsible for antibiotic resistance. Additionally, he has pioneered methods for predicting protein-protein interactions through a combination of structural comparison and modeling sequence data, pinpointing evolutionary events responsible for these interactions. His recent publications have appeared in prominent journals such as Bioinformatics, Structure, and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

Research Interests