Janani Durairaj is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel, working at the intersection of computational structural biology and machine learning. Her research focuses on developing methods to represent, explore, and understand protein structures for applications in drug discovery, vaccine design, and enzyme engineering.
Durairaj completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and a Master's in Biological Science from BITS Pilani, India. During her Master's, she undertook an internship in protein-protein interface prediction at the Bioinformatics group at Wageningen University. Following her Master's, she pursued a PhD in Bioinformatics at Wageningen University, graduating with the distinction cum laude. Her PhD thesis, titled "Computational approaches to discover novel enzymes for fragrance and flavour," combined homology modeling, structural and chemical feature extraction, and machine learning to predict and understand fragrance molecules produced by terpene synthases.
Durairaj received the BioSB Young Investigator Award in 2022 for her contributions to the field of bioinformatics. She has also contributed to large-scale community-driven efforts, such as CASP15 and the Protein Universe Atlas.
Durairaj's notable publications include:
Janani Durairaj is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel, working at the intersection of computational structural biology and machine learning. She received the BioSB Young Investigator Award in 2022 for her PhD work in bioinformatics and has since contributed to community-driven projects such as CASP15 and the Protein Universe Atlas. Durairaj's research focuses on developing methods to represent, explore, and understand protein structures, with applications in drug discovery and vaccine design.
Durairaj completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and a Master's in Biological Science from BITS Pilani, India. During her master's program, she undertook an internship in protein-protein interface prediction at the Bioinformatics group at Wageningen University. Following her master's, she pursued a PhD in the same group, supervised by Dr. Aalt-Jan van Dijk and Prof. Dick de Ridder. Her doctoral research involved developing novel approaches that combined homology modeling, structural and chemical feature extraction, and machine learning to predict and understand fragrance molecules produced by terpene synthases. She successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled "Computational approaches to discover novel enzymes for fragrance and flavour", in September 2021, graduating with the distinction of cum laude.
Durairaj is currently a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Torsten Schwede at the University of Basel, focusing on protein representations and benchmarking for computational drug discovery. She is part of the Protein Bioinformatics in 3D research group, where she works on developing efficient algorithms and software to represent and understand protein structures, with applications in areas such as enzyme engineering and drug discovery.
Durairaj's research contributions are primarily in the field of computational structural biology and bioinformatics, with a focus on protein structure prediction and analysis. Her notable publications include:
Youtube Title: VSC AlphaFold Event | Janani Durairaj | University of Basel
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Vlaams Supercomputer Centrum
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@vschpc
VSC AlphaFold Event | Janani Durairaj | University of Basel
Youtube Title: #66 AlphaFold and shape-mers with Janani Durairaj
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: the bioinformatics chat
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@bioinfochat
#66 AlphaFold and shape-mers with Janani Durairaj
Youtube Title: Interview series of LIGATE project with Janani Durairaj Made by Headliner
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: cheloniaswiss
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@cheloniaswiss5993
Interview series of LIGATE project with Janani Durairaj Made by Headliner
Youtube Title: BrazWebinars: Dr Xavier Robin and Dr. Janani Durairaj, CAMEO Team, SIB, Universität Basel
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Bioinformática UFMG
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@bioinformaticaufmg1410
BrazWebinars: Dr Xavier Robin and Dr. Janani Durairaj, CAMEO Team, SIB, Universität Basel
Youtube Title: CASP AI SIG April 14 2024 - Janani Durairaj
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Introduction to Bioinformatics by Arne Elofsson at Stockholm University
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@introductiontobioinformati9910
CASP AI SIG April 14 2024 - Janani Durairaj
Youtube Title: Ester John Ramdeen - Jai Jaga Janani Bhaawani
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: malini sarju
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@mollysarj
Ester John Ramdeen - Jai Jaga Janani Bhaawani
Youtube Title: VSC AlphaFold Event
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Vlaams Supercomputer Centrum
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@vschpc
VSC AlphaFold Event
Youtube Title: 30 June 2024
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Janani Durairaj
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@jananidurairaj2465
30 June 2024
Youtube Title: #67 AlphaFold and variant effect prediction with Amelie Stein
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: the bioinformatics chat
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@bioinfochat
#67 AlphaFold and variant effect prediction with Amelie Stein
Youtube Title: Proceedings on Genes and Proteins - Dincer, Hoang Pham, Xuan, Durairaj - ECCB 2020
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: ISCB
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@ISCBtv
Proceedings on Genes and Proteins - Dincer, Hoang Pham, Xuan, Durairaj - ECCB 2020
Youtube Title: 3 June 2024
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Janani Durairaj
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@jananidurairaj2465
3 June 2024
Youtube Title: University of Basel Researchers Discuss Botany Research on Duke Forest
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Duke Forest
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@thedukeforest
University of Basel Researchers Discuss Botany Research on Duke Forest
Youtube Title: #65 AlphaFold and protein interactions with Pedro Beltrao
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: the bioinformatics chat
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@bioinfochat
#65 AlphaFold and protein interactions with Pedro Beltrao
Youtube Title: Artistic Inquiry and DNA storage
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: Stanford Research Talks
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@stanfordresearchtalks8541
Artistic Inquiry and DNA storage
Youtube Title: Nuances of Influencing Developer… - Neetu Jain, Janani Rajendiran, Samantha Carvalho & Tracy Ragan
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: CNCF [Cloud Native Computing Foundation]
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/@cncf
Nuances of Influencing Developer... - Neetu Jain, Janani Rajendiran, Samantha Carvalho & Tracy Ragan
Youtube Title: Jay Jay Jagajanani Devi | Navratri 2020 | Aarya Ambekar
Youtube Link: link
Youtube Channel Name: AaryaSA Official
Youtube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgBAzMJE2zBPs-rKKxixcw
Jay Jay Jagajanani Devi | Navratri 2020 | Aarya Ambekar