On Tuesday 21 October 2025 from 12:30-17:30, AUSBI and AUNAB (Aarhus University Network on Artificial Biology) are co-hosting an afternoon meeting focusing on Biomolecular Design, where we will explore biomolecular design techniques and know-how available to researchers at Aarhus University. The aim of the meeting is to share experiences with techniques relevant to biomolecular design research, and to connect research groups across AU who share an interest in biomolecular design. 

At the meeting, we will have the pleasure of invited speaker Dek Woolfson joining, who is the Director of the new NNF Center for Protein Design (CPD), and Director of the Bristol BioDesign Institute. Several AU researchers working with protein design will present their expertises, and the EMCC infrastructure for supporting high-performance computing for structural biology will also be presented. 

Registration link: events.au.dk/biomolecular-design-afternoon
Please register by Friday 10^th October (free of charge), so we can order catering accordingly.

The meeting is open to everyone interested across AU departments, and we strongly encourage both group leaders, junior researchers, and students to join. 
Participants are highly encouraged to bring a poster about their research (re-use of existing posters are perfectly fine).

Note that group leaders are highly encouraged to participate, also in order to stimulate attendance for the rest of their group, and bring forward valuable input about possible method-expertise and collaborations across groups and departments.

Organizers:

• Vili Lampinen, Dept. Molecular Biology and Genetics, AU
• Ebbe Sloth Andersen, iNANO, AU
• Michael Westberg, Dept. Chemistry, AU

Date: Tuesday 21 October 2025
Venue: AIAS auditorium (1632-201), Aarhus University, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 6B, Aarhus C
 

• 12:30   Coffee & poster hang-up (in the AIAS hall 1630-101)
   
• 13:00   Introduction of meeting by organizers

• 13:05   Biomolecular Design by invited speaker Dek Woolfson
                Presenting the new NNF Protein Design Center and introduction to the field in general

• 14:00   Talks by AUSBI researchers on various techniques (10+5min each)

  • 14:00     Kurt Gothelf (Professor, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center - iNANO) – Design of DNA structures
  • 14:15     Ebbe S. Andersen (Professor, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center - iNANO) – Modular design of RNA origami scaffolds and robotic devices

• 14:30    Introduction to brainstorm on protein design (in coming break)

• 14:35     Break with coffee/cake and brainstorm challenge on protein design 

• 15:10    Info on practical design courses for students

• 15:15    Talks by AUSBI researchers on various techniques (10+5min each)

  • 15:15     Thea Schinkel (PhD student in Julián Valero’s group, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center - iNANO) – Cryo-EM aided design of multivalent aptamer nanostructures (CAD-MAN) for enhanced biomolecular targeting
  • 15:30     Ida Kjærsgaard Grene (PhD student in Magnus Kjærgaard’s group, Dept. Molecular Biology and Genetics) – Flow-induced dispersion analysis (FIDA) as a method for screening binders
  • 15:45     Jesper Lykkegaard Karlsen (Data management coordinator, Faculty of Natural Sciences) – Introducing the new AI initiative at the faculty, and EMCC support for biomolecular design (high-performance computing for structural biology, https://emcc.au.dk/)
  • 16:00     Kira Gysel (Assistant prof. in Kasper R. Andersen’s group, Dept. Molecular Biology and Genetics) – Binder design for plant science
  • 16:15     Michael Westberg (Assistant professor, Dept. Chemistry) – Designing switchable binders for control of endogenous proteins

• 16:30     Poster session and pizza (AIAS hall 1631-101)

• 17:30      Thanks for today