Juan Carlos Muñoz García

In 2009, I received a PhD scholarship from CSIC to conduct my doctoral research at the Instituto de Investigaciones Químicas (IIQ, CSIC–University of Seville), focusing on the atomic scale characterization of heparin like oligosaccharides and their interactions with proteins through ligand observed NMR and molecular modelling techniques. I completed short research stays in top laboratories (Prof. Robert Woods, Univ. of Georgia, 2011; Dr. Anne Imberty, CERMAV, 2012). In 2013, I graduated with a PhD in Chemistry with International Mention, awarded cum laude.
In 2013, I joined Prof. Anthony Watts at (Dept. Biochem., Univ. of Oxford) as a Research Associate, funded by UCB Celltech. Here, I led studies on the structure, dimerization, and lipid interactions of the GPCRs Neurotensin Receptor 1 and Dopamine Receptor 1 through homology modeling, MD simulations, and EPR data.
In 2016, I joined Prof. Yaroslav Khimyak’s group (School of Pharmacy, Univ. of East Anglia) as a Senior Research Associate, where I developed solution, HR MAS, and solid state NMR methods for probing the structure and dynamics of carbohydrate based gels.
In 2022, I was awarded a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship to return to IIQ. Here, my work has been acknowledged with the Young Scientist Award 2024 from Journal of Magnetic Resonance. In 2024, I was awarded an EMERGIA contract and research grant from the Junta de Andalucía (PI position, Feb 2025) and, in March 2025, I secured a permanent Tenured Scientist position at IIQ. Here, I lead the development of chemoinformatics and NMR integrated software —RedMat (redmat.iiq.us-csic.es) and RedDat (stdrdweb.streamlit.app)—, as well as ML-boosted computational methods to accelerate the structural validation of protein–fragment complexes. In collaboration with Dr Carolina Carrillo, I also develop solution NMR protocols to monitor the solvent-gelator interactions responsible of Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) gels formation.
My research interests revolve around the atomic-scale structural and molecular characterization of complex biological systems and functional materials, masterfully integrating Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy with Computational Chemistry and Machine Learning (ML). Currently, my research at IIQ concentrates on two cutting-edge lines: 1) the accelerated structural validation of protein-fragment complexes through the development of specialized chemoinformatics software (RedMat and RedDat) and the application of ML to NMR data; 2) pioneering novel solution and solid-state NMR protocols to elucidate the fundamental gelation mechanisms of carbohydrate-based gels and Metal-Organic Framework (MOFs) gels. My overarching goal is to achieve structural and dynamic understanding across complex systems, from biomolecules to novel materials, by combining robust analytical tools (multi-dimensional NMR), and sophisticated computational methods together with software development, to drive advancements in drug discovery and materials science.