Research Officer at Children's Medical Research Institute, Sydney
Protein engineering from AI design to preclinical validation.
Biomedical engineer working across computational protein design, wet-lab validation, and translational models in antimicrobial discovery and gene therapy.
- Computational design
- Wet-lab validation
- Gene therapy & antimicrobials
- Publications
- 20+
- Citations
- 300+
- Patents
- 2
- Countries
- 3
01Current position
Research Officer
Children's Medical Research Institute, Sydney
We built a computational platform for antimicrobial peptide discovery — from protein language model predictions to preclinical validation in mouse models — and extended the same approach to AAV capsid engineering for gene therapy.
Method
- 01
Sequence
- 02
Model
- 03
Bench
- 04
In vivo
02Selected research
Selected research
Protein engineering from computational design to preclinical validation, spanning antimicrobial discovery and gene therapy.
012024Molecular Therapy
AAV-mediated CAR-T generation
Evolved AAV capsids that improved targeted CAR-T generation and reduced the vector dose needed for primary T cell editing.
- Capsid Evolution
- AAV
- Gene Therapy
022024Nature Communications
Normothermic Liver Perfusion
Used whole human liver perfusion to compare AAV vectors in a clinically relevant preclinical model.
- Preclinical
- AAV
- Translational
032023Molecular Therapy Methods & Clinical Development
FRG Mouse Model & AAV-LK03
Characterized the humanized FRG mouse model and developed an AAV-LK03 variant with improved liver lobular biodistribution.
- Biodistribution
- Models
- Vectorology
More publications
- Schematic · 04Antimicrobial
2022 · Microbial Cell Factories
Host Defense Peptides
Reviewed how recombinant host defense peptides can be engineered and produced for antimicrobial translation at scale.
- Schematic · 05Immunology
2020 · Microbial Cell Factories
Multidomain Recombinant Proteins
Built multidomain recombinant proteins with broad antimicrobial activity in soluble and nanocluster formats.
- Schematic · 06Conformers
2021 · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
High-Quality Protein Conformers
Selected higher-quality protein conformers from recombinant inclusion body mixtures to improve activity and stability.
03Research focus
Core Competencies
- 01
Protein Language Models
ESM-2, ProtTrans, pLM-based sequence analysis
- 02
AAV Capsid Engineering
Directed evolution, capsid libraries, tropism engineering
- 03
Python & Data Science
PyTorch, scikit-learn, pandas, data pipelines
- 04
Antimicrobial Discovery
Peptide design, MIC assays, in vivo efficacy
- 05
Preclinical Validation
Mouse models, pharmacokinetics, toxicology
- 06
Molecular Biology
Cloning, protein expression, functional assays
04Experience
Experience and evidence
Three countries, three labs, one focus: turning sequence-level ideas into experimental proof.
I trained in Biotechnology at UAB Barcelona, took a Master's in Biomedical Engineering at UC Irvine, then returned to UAB for a PhD where we designed antimicrobial proteins end-to-end — from sequence design through recombinant production and functional assays. That stage produced two patents and four first-author papers.
At CMRI Sydney we built a platform to analyse millions of sequences and surface hundreds — sometimes thousands — of new antimicrobial peptides. Using protein language models, we tested those predictions in the lab and in preclinical models. In parallel we applied generative AI to protein engineering, designing AAV capsids for gene therapy.
2021 - 2026
Research Officer
Children's Medical Research Institute, Sydney
We built a computational platform for antimicrobial peptide discovery — from protein language model predictions to preclinical validation in mouse models — and extended the same approach to AAV capsid engineering for gene therapy.
2016 - 2020
Pre-doctoral Researcher
UAB & IRTA, Barcelona
We designed antimicrobial proteins from scratch — cloning, recombinant production, functional assays. Two patents and four first-author papers, eight total.
2015 - 2016
Graduate Researcher
University of California, Irvine
We tracked estrogen receptor dynamics in living cells with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy and quantitative image analysis.
05Discuss a role
Proteins built for the part after prediction.
Open to roles and collaborations where computational design, molecular biology, and translational validation need to work together.
ramon.rocap@gmail.com