Lukasz Kurgan, Ph.D., vice chair of the Department of Computer Science at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), has been named an editor-in-chief of the international journal Biomolecules, a peer-reviewed open access journal whose scope lays in the intersection between biochemistry, molecular biology, bioinformatics, molecular medicine and material sciences. Biomolecules has an impact factor of 5.5, placing it within the top quartile of journals in its core areas of biochemistry and molecular biology.
Kurgan, who joined the VCU College of Engineering faculty in 2016 as the Robert J. Mattauch Endowed Professor of Computer Science, is a data scientist specializing in high-throughput structural bioinformatics of proteins and small RNAs.
“I am deeply grateful to the outgoing editor-in-chief, Dr. Vladimir Uversky, for his many years of leadership that have grown the reputation and reach of Biomolecules,” Kurgan said. “I hope to further strengthen the position of Biomolecules so that it becomes a preferred destination for high-impact research on biomolecules and bioactive and biogenic compounds.”
Kurgan has been involved with Biomolecules since 2018, recently serving as the section editor-in-chief for the “Bioinformatics and Systems Biology” section. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, about 30 book chapters and two books.
Joining Kurgan as editor-in-chief is Peter E. Nielsen, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen.
Biomolecules has a strong focus on structures and functions of bioactive and biogenic substances, molecular mechanisms with biological and medical implications, as well as biomaterials and their applications. The journal has been published continually since 2011 by the open access publisher MDPI at www.mdpi.com/journal/biomolecules.
Last fall, Kurgan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. He is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
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