Assoz.-Prof. Dr. Julien Orts
University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, 2F 353
A-1090 Vienna, Austria
Phone: +43-1-4277-55001
email: julien.orts@univie.ac.at
Julien Orts is a physicist and biophysicist whose research sits at the intersection of structural biology, NMR spectroscopy, and drug discovery. After earning his Ph.D. jointly from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and EMBL under Profs. Griesinger and Carlomagno, he developed INPHARMA, a method that uses NMR to experimentally validate how small molecules bind to proteins—now used in pharma and academia, especially for challenging targets like GPCRs.
As a postdoc and junior group leader at ETH Zurich in Prof. Riek’s lab, he co-developed the exact NOE (eNOE) technique, which dramatically increased the accuracy of NMR distance restraints and allowed researchers to resolve protein structures and dynamics at atomic precision—even in large complexes. He also invented NMR2, the first fully automated method for determining protein–ligand complex structures from solution NMR data. This approach fills a gap in NMR structural biology by providing a parallel to molecular replacement used in X-ray crystallography.
Now Associate Professor and Scientific Director of the NMR Facility at the University of Vienna, Julien leads a lab focused on structure-based drug design, fragment screening, protein allostery, and biophysical characterization of molecular interactions. He also leads research aimed at the development of molecular probes for neurodegenerative diseases, combining computational design and experimental validation.
Julien is a recipient of an ERC Consolidator Grant, along with Structural Funds for the acquisition of high-end research equipment, supporting his continued development of cutting-edge NMR-based approaches in biomedical research.
Julien is passionate about pushing the boundaries of what NMR can do in modern drug discovery—and about mentoring the next generation of scientists to do the same.
Website: bionmr.univie.ac.at/research/