Fearless Curiosity in Genomics: Meet Judit Szenei

From decoding bacterial genomes to navigating the challenges of data visualization, Judit Szenei is making structure prediction smarter and sharper. In this candid conversation, Judit shares what it’s like to work on the frontlines of natural product discovery, why asking questions (even the “nonsense” ones) is her science superpower, and how AI is transforming her field. She also opens up about the community spirit within the MAGic-MOLFUN network and the unexpected skills that now define her research life. Dive into her story — and her enthusiasm for knowing “what’s going on” in science.

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Judit Szenei is pursuing her PhD under the title “Natural Products Structure Prediction based on Genomic Data.” Her research focuses on improving how we can predict the exact shapes and features of chemical compounds made by bacteria, just by analyzing their DNA. While current tools can identify where interesting biosynthetic pathways are located in the genome, they often fall short of predicting what the resulting molecules might actually look like. Judit’s work aims to bridge that gap by helping antiSMASH, a key tool in the field, simulate and visualize those molecules more accurately, using known biological data and new modeling approaches. Her efforts could one day make it easier to discover useful compounds for medicine, food, and agriculture.