Jana Selent

An international investigation with Catalan participation has just opened a new path to develop cancer treatments. The study, published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, has involved the participation of Jana Selent, a researcher at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and one of the leading experts in molecular modeling applied to drug development. The work has allowed the discovery of a previously unknown cellular mechanism related to tumor growth thanks to the combined use of artificial intelligence and advanced molecular modeling techniques. The research could facilitate the design of more precise treatments with fewer side effects.

Selent is a Miguel Servet researcher at IMIM, an associate professor at Pompeu Fabra University, and head of the GPCR Drug Discovery group of the joint IMIM-UPF biomedical research program. She graduated in Pharmacy in 2000 and received her doctorate in drug design from Humboldt University in Berlin in 2004. Before joining GRIB in 2007, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and as a visiting scientist at Martin-Luther University in Halle. Specialized in G protein-coupled receptors, she has authored more than 45 scientific publications and since 2016 coordinates the international GPCRmd community, focused on the study of molecular dynamics applied to the development of new drugs.