Curriculum vitæ

Pavel JUNGWIRTH Born in Prague on May 20, 1966. Czech nationality. ResearcherID: D-9290-2011

Academic Training

• M.Sc. in Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, 1989.
• Ph.D. at J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, 1993. Thesis advisor: Prof. R. Zahradník.

Contact

• Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Flemingovo nám. 2, Prague 6, CZ-16610, Czech Republic
• e-mail: pavel.jungwirth@uochb.cas.cz
• ☎: +420 220 183 184
• web pages: jungwirth.uochb.cas.cz and jungwirth.group.uochb.cz/en

Present Position

• Senior Team Leader at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Acad. Sci. of the Czech Rep., Prague, Czech Republic (since 2003). Distinguished Chair from 2016.
• Professor (External Faculty) at the Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (Associate Professor 2000-2011, Full Professor (since 2011).

Academic Experience

• Research associate at University of Geneva, Switzerland (with Professor J. Weber), 1991.
• Research associate at University of Fribourg, Switzerland (with Professor T. Bally), 1992.
• Golda Meir Postdoctoral Fellow at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (with Professor R. B. Gerber), 1994-1995.
• Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Irvine (with Professor R. B. Gerber), 1995.
• Group head at J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Prague, 1995-2003.
• Visiting researcher at University of California, Irvine, 1998.
• Visiting professor at University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 2001.
• Schonbrunn visiting professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 2001.
• Visiting researcher at University of California, Irvine, 2004.
• Visiting professor at University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 2007.
• Visiting professor at Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, 2010.
• Visiting professor at Rush University, Chicago, 2012.
• Finland Distinguished Professor at the Tampere University of Technology (2013-2017).

Scientific Awards

• Hlávka Foundation Prize (1993).
• Golda Meir Postdoctoral Fellowship (1994).
• Learned Society of the Czech Republic Prize (1996).
• NATO Senior Science Fellowship (2001).
• Schonbrunn Visiting Professor (Lady Davis Fellowship) (2001).
• Annual Medal of the International Academy of Quamtum Molecular Science (2001).
• Otto Wichterle Prize of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2002).
• Spiers Memorial Prize of the Royal Society for Chemistry (2008).
• Doctor of Sciences from the Czech Academy of Sciences (2009).
• Elected member of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic (2009).
• Praemium Academie Prize from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2010).
• Jaroslav Heyrovský Medal from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2016).
• Humboldt Research Award (2020).
• Elected Member of Academia Europeae (2021).
• Advanced ERC grant (from 2023)
• Award of the Neuron Foundation for lifelong contribution to science (2024).
• Elected Member of the Academy for Science and Literature Mainz, Germany (2025).

Pedagogic activity and supervision of students

• Advanced course "Classical and quantum molecular dynamics" at the Charles University in Prague (since 1996). Extended to 2 separate key courses of the MSc. curriculum (since 2009).
• Graduate course "Computational methods in atmospheric chemistry" at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001).
• Graduate course „Molecular Spectroscopy“ at the University of Southern California (2007).
• Graduated over 20 PhD. students and more than a dozen MSc. students. Advised over 15 postdocs.

Service for the scientific community

• Head of the Board of IOCB (2021- ) and Member of the Board of the Heyrovsky Institute (since 2022).
• Member of the AdG ERC Evaluation Panel PE4 (since 2023).
• Reviewer for NSF, DOE, ERC, and other granting agencies and numerous scientific journals.
• Popularizer of science – regular articles in Czech newspapers and magazines on science and society. Numerous radio and TV shows on popular science.
• Senior Editor of Journal of Physical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (2009-2023).
• Member of Editorial Board of Chemical Physics Letters (2007-2018).
• Member of Editorial Board of Accounts of Chemical Research (2015-2022).
• Member of the Scientific Board of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University (2013-2020).
• President of the Learned Society of the Czech Republic (2020-2022).
• Member of the Evaluation Panel for the Czech Science Foundation (2009-2011).

Organization of scientific meetings (most important recent ones)

• Faraday Discussion, Oxford (2012).
• Telluride Summer Research Conference (2011).
• Hofmeister Symposium Prague (2010).
• Gordon Research Conference, Holderness NH (2010).

International collaborations (key recent joint papers)

• Prof. P. S. Cremer (Penn State University)
• Prof. S. E. Bradforth (USC, Los Angeles)
• Dr. Bernd Winter (BESSY Berlin)
• Prof. P. Hamm (University Zurich)
• Prof. D. Laage (ENS Paris)
• Dr. B. Schmidt and Prof. R. R. Netz (FU Berlin)
• Prof. N. Matubyashi (University Kyoto)
• Prof. O. Bjorneholm (University Uppsala)
• Profs. D. Horinek and W. Kunz (University Regensburg)
• Prof. I. Vattulainen (University Helsinki)

Research interests

• Molecular simulations of ions at biological aqueous interfaces, including interactions of ions with proteins and membranes.
• Hofmeister ion effects in protein salting out/salting in, denaturation, and enzymatic activity.
• Modelling direct and indirect DNA damage and structure and dynamics of solvated electrons.
• Effects of oxidation in cellular membranes.
• Role of ions in biological transport and signalling.
• The principal aim is to model at a molecular level proteins, biomembranes, and DNA, in their native aqueous environment with emphasis of ion specific effects.
• We employ state-of-the-art computational techniques spanning from classical molecular dynamics to ab initio quantum chemistry in direct contact with experimental biochemistry and molecular spectroscopy.

Publications and presentations
More than 350 research and review papers in international journals (including Science, Nature, Nature Chemistry, JACS, PRL, JPCL, etc.) with more than 20 000 citations (excluding self-citations). Several book chapters. Over 100 invited lectures at international conferences (including GRC) and numerous departmental seminars at universities and research laboratories in Europe, USA, Japan, China, and Israel.