Prof. G.J.P. van Westen combines research in drug discovery with artificial intelligence (AI). He is a world renowned expert in machine learning on combined chemical and biological data. In his group, large language models are used to design (generate) new molecular structures with a desired activity and toxicity profiles that are subsequently synthesized in the wet lab. Moreover, structure-based approaches are used to gain a mechanistic insight in the molecular interaction between small molecule ligands and (membrane bound) protein targets. Here dynamical methods are created that are subsequently analyzed using AI approaches to design and improve small molecule ligands. 

Prof. van Westen studied biopharmaceutical sciences in Leiden and obtained his PhD in 2013 in Leiden in a project funded by and collaborating with Janssen Pharmaceutica. He did a postdoc in Cambridge at the European Bioinformatics Institute. Van Westen has co-authored >120 publications. Major grants/prizes/honors include: a Marie Curie postdoc fellowship, Leiden University Discoverer of the year 2013, an NWO VENI grant (2015), the KNCV Gold Medal 2023, and more. Furthermore, he is the lead of the AI Platform in the national Growth Fund Project ‘Oncode Accelerator’ and has received multiple European (including IMI eTransafe and ITN ‘Drugtrain’) and Dutch National consortia. He has completed the supervision of 6 PhD students, participated in 20 PhD opposition committees, and currently supervises 12 PhD students.