Miquel Duran-Frigola’s research interests lay at the intersection between drug discovery and large-scale biological data analysis. During his PhD studies and early career, Miquel developed several in silico methods for pharmacology, producing scientific publications in a broad range of topics, from theoretical chemistry to cell-based data analysis. Along this process, he has worked at IRB Barcelona, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Tel Aviv University, ISGlobal-CISM (Mozambique), CIDRZ (Zambia), H3D (South Africa) and CeMM (Austria). At IRB Barcelona, Miquel led the development of the Chemical Checker, a data-driven drug discovery tool that collects and harmonises a massive amount of bioactivity data, making it ready for machine learning tasks.
Currently, Miquel is Lead Scientist at the Ersilia Open Source Initiative, a UK charity and Spanish Foundation aimed at implementing AI/ML tools in resource-limited countries, where he serves as Scientist and Trustee. Ersilia’s main asset is the Ersilia Model Hub, an ever-growing repository of more than one hundred ready-to-use AI/ML models for antimicrobial drug discovery and global health. With Ersilia, Miquel hopes to apply his data science skills in underfunded settings such as research institutes in Low and Middle Income Countries. Beyond science, Miquel has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing and studies Humanities, and has published a novel and several short stories in Catalan and Spanish.