Rok studied pharmacy at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy (Slovenia). In 2004, he graduated from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy University of Ljubljana and received his Ph.D. in 2009 under the supervision of Prof. Slavko Pečar. He worked on the design, synthesis and biological testing of novel small molecule inhibitors of Mur inhibitors as potential antibacterial agents.
He conducted his postdoctoral studies from 2009 to 2010 at the Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologiques, Université Paris Descartes (France), under the supervision of Christine Gravier-Pelletier, focusing on the synthesis of bacterial transferase MraY inhibitors.
From 2005 he worked at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy. From 2016 to 2020 he was Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana.
His research interests are in the field of medicinal chemistry of antibacterial compounds, organic synthesis and machine learning. His educational work includes the experimental practice of medicinal chemistry and instrumental pharmaceutical chemistry.
In 2004, Rok received two Krka awards for his research on the design and synthesis of Ag85C inhibitors as potential antitubercular drugs. In 2009, he was awarded the Special Prize for his research on the design, synthesis and evaluation of MurC and D inhibitors.
In 2016, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia honored him with the Golden Award for Innovation for his work on the green and efficient synthesis of sitagliptin. |