Janez Plavec - Biography#

Janez Plavec is the head of the Slovenian NMR center, a National and International facility, and Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Ljubljana (UL). He obtained his diploma degree (B.Sc.) in 1987 at the UL Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology and received his M. Sc. degree in 1990 at the same faculty. His Ph.D. degree was conferred by Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden in 1995. He was a Fulbright fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA in 2002. He has co-authored over 250 original scientific papers, over 100 invited lectures at international conferences, was a supervisor of 18 graduate students. He has organized 15 international events in Slovenia that received excellent reviews.

Research interests of J. Plavec include studies of structure and dynamics of bio-macro-molecular systems by NMR, structural studies of nucleotides and the building blocks of nucleic acids, protein structure, interactions of small molecules and metal ions with DNA and RNA, etc. His recent projects focus on the structure and dynamics of G-rich DNA segments, NMR spectroscopic studies of small (organic) molecules and biomolecular systems, cation binding and interactions of small molecules with nucleic acids, structural characterization of prion proteins in relation to prion disease, etc. He has coordinated and led several projects including establishment of EN-FIST Centre of Excellence. He is a member of the Slovenian Chemical Society, American Chemical Society, Slovenian Biochemical Society and IS3NA. He is a member and the chairman of the Board of Directors of CERIC ERIC (Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium). Since 2018 he is the chair of Council of Republic of Slovenia for awarding prizes for excellent achievements in science and research.