Aransa Fernanda Griñen Muñoz

Aransa Fernanda Griñen Muñoz is a postdoctoral fellow in the MIT Department of Biology. Her research brings together AI, protein engineering, and experimental biochemistry to address challenges in sustainability and human health. Aransa studies how computational protein design can uncover and engineer biologically important molecular interactions. During her doctoral studies, she combined deep learning-guided design with laboratory validation to redesign PET-degrading enzymes with improved activity at lower temperatures and helped identify novel polyester-degrading enzymes from polar marine environments. Her work provided new insights into the structural features that govern enzyme performance and advanced AI-driven approaches for protein engineering. As an MIT-Novo Nordisk Artificial Intelligence Postdoctoral Fellow, Aransa will develop AI frameworks to predict cross- species protein-protein interaction interfaces between the human host and gut microbiome and validate these interactions experimentally. Her work could reveal molecular mechanisms underlying metabolic disease, enable new therapeutic protein designs, and expand scientific understanding of host-microbe communication, supporting more precise approaches to human health.