Aaron Sweeney

Dr. Aaron Sweeney is a structural biologist and computational drug-discovery researcher, currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) in Hamburg, Germany (Feb 2022–present). Building on a PhD in Computational Biology from UCL/Birkbeck (ISMB) in London (Sept 2017–Feb 2022), he has led and collaborated on multiple software-development projects that integrate cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) data with molecular modeling, docking, and dynamics. His work spans both methodological tool creation and application-driven studies to identify small-molecule modulators of disease-relevant proteins. He also holds an MSc in Experimental Pharmacology and Therapeutics (UCL School of Pharmacy) and a BSc in Biochemistry (Royal Holloway, University of London).

Cryo-EM–Driven Drug Discovery: Designing computational workflows to leverage cryo-EM maps for structure-based ligand placement and optimization.
Molecular Docking & Scoring: Developing and refining docking algorithms and scoring functions to improve prediction of binding modes and affinities.
Computer-Aided Identification of Viral Inhibitors: Applying in-silico screening pipelines to discover small-molecule inhibitors targeting the Lassa virus L-Z protein interaction.