Kanin Wichapong  | Chief Technology Officer, Hillmark Biopharma & Senior Researcher, Maastricht University

Kanin Wichapong studied chemistry and obtained PhD (physical chemistry) from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. During his PhD study, he also received research grants to carry out parts of his PhD dissertation at the Institute of Pharmacy, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany. After completion of his PhD, he returned to Germany and worked at Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg as a postdoctoral researcher, and then moved to Maastricht and started his career at the Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM) as a postdoctoral researcher. Presently, he holds the role of senior researcher at CARIM, specializing in computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) and protein structural bioinformatics. In March 2023, he and his colleague, Dr. Gerry A.F. Nicolaes, established a spin-off company called Hillmark B.V. (https://www.hillmarkbiopharma.com/). Dr. Wichapong also holds the roles of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and project manager at Hillmark B.V.. His research interests focus on utilizing computational methods to discover and develop bioactive compounds, such as small-molecule inhibitors, peptides, therapeutic proteins, and PROTACs, for targeting various drug targets. Additionally, he employs various computational approaches to investigate the structures and functions of proteins and to elucidate the interactions between proteins and their binding partners (e.g., proteins, peptides, small compounds, nucleic acids).