Mitja is an Assistant Professor for Natural Product Research at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Division of Pharmacognosy, at the University of Vienna, Austria. His lab focuses on the discovery of microbial natural products, small molecules with potent bioactivities. The Zdouc lab uses data science, linked open data, machine learning, and bioinformatics to investigate these natural products, trying to elucidate this microbial “chemical language”. Mitja is especially interested in understanding the biosynthesis of ribosomally synthesized peptides, motivating the development of new algorithms that integrate genomics, metabolomics, and other metadata for their discovery. In addition, a core mission of the Zdouc lab is to further Open Science by developing mechanisms that make research results accessible following FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles.
Before starting his lab in 2026, Mitja earned his Ph.D. for his investigations of actinomycetes in the context of drug discovery from the University of Amsterdam in 2021. From 2022 to 2026, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University, where he worked on the development of computational tools and data resources for natural product discovery.
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