Andrej Šali (born 1963,

Kranj, Slovenia Kranj (, ) is the fourth-largest city in Slovenia and the largest urban center of the traditional region of Upper Carniola (northwestern Slovenia) and the Slovene Alps. It is located approximately northwest of the national capital Ljubljana, act ...

) is a computational structural

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

. Since 2003, he has been Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at University of California, San Francisco. He also serves as an editor of the journal ''

Structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

''.

Education

Šali received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in chemistry from

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

, 1987; his Ph.D. in

Molecular Biophysics Molecular biophysics is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary area of research that combines concepts in physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and biology. It seeks to understand biomolecular systems and explain biological function in ter ...

from

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, 1991 (working with

Tom Blundell Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blun ...

); and did postdoctoral work at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(working with

Martin Karplus Martin Karplus (; March 15, 1930 – December 28, 2024) was an Austrian and American theoretical chemist. He was the Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University. He was also the director of the Biophysical Chemistry L ...

Research

Sali joined the faculty of the

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

in 1995, following his postdoctoral research at

. He is using computation grounded in the laws of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

to study the

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

and

function Function or functionality may refer to: Computing * Function key, a type of key on computer keyboards * Function model, a structured representation of processes in a system * Function object or functor or functionoid, a concept of object-orie ...

of proteins. For example, he developed comparative protein structure modeling by satisfaction of spatial restraints, implemented in program

MODELLER Modeller, often stylized as MODELLER, is a computer program used for homology modeling to produce models of protein tertiary structures and quaternary structures (rarer). It implements a method inspired by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ...

and integrative structure determination of macromolecular assemblies, implemented in program IMP.

Research impact

Sali contributes greatly to structural biology by developing and applying computational methods for structural modeling and analysis of proteins. The two most often used programs developed by his research group include "MODELLER" for comparative protein structure modeling and "IMP" for integrative structure determination. As of January 2022, Šali published approximately 400 papers, which were cited approximately 89,000 times per Google Scholar. His Hirsch-index is 132 (i.e., 132 publication have been cited at least 132 times). In 2018, Šali was elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in recognition of his contributions to biophysics and

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and Computer simulation, computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer sci ...

Notable alumni from Šali Lab

References

External links

Homepage of Šali's laboratory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sali, Andrej 1963 births Living people Slovenian biologists Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Harvard University alumni University of California, San Francisco faculty University of Ljubljana alumni People from Kranj Fellows of the International Society for Computational Biology 21st-century American biologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Bijvoet Medal recipients