Head
Marco De Vivo, PhD
Education
2000. BA and MSc in Chemistry, Dept of Chemistry G. Ciamician, University of Bologna
2004. PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Dept of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Bologna
2004-2007. Postdoc for 3 years with Prof. M. L. Klein, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Education
2000. BA and MSc in Chemistry, Dept of Chemistry G. Ciamician, University of Bologna
2004. PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Dept of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Bologna
2004-2007. Postdoc for 3 years with Prof. M. L. Klein, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Research Associate
Laura Riccardi, PhD (Computational Chemistry)
Email: laura.riccardi@iit.it
Laura joined our group in September 2013, from the Goethe University of Frankfurt - Germany.
She is a computational scientist who is mainly focused on molecular dynamics (MD)-based studies of pharmaceutically relevant enzymes involved in lipid signaling. Her research is then bridged to drug design via the identification of promising hit compounds targeting those enzymes. More recently, Laura has also started to work on gold-nanoparticles for chemosensing and catalysis.
Email: laura.riccardi@iit.it
Laura joined our group in September 2013, from the Goethe University of Frankfurt - Germany.
She is a computational scientist who is mainly focused on molecular dynamics (MD)-based studies of pharmaceutically relevant enzymes involved in lipid signaling. Her research is then bridged to drug design via the identification of promising hit compounds targeting those enzymes. More recently, Laura has also started to work on gold-nanoparticles for chemosensing and catalysis.
Postdocs
Jose M. Arencibia, PhD (In Vitro/In Vivo Molecular Biology)
Email: jose.arencibia@iit.it
Pepe joined our group in June 2014, from the Research Group Phosphosites at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital of Frankfurt. Working in close collaboration with computational and medicinal chemists in the group, Pepe develops and applies in vitro cell culture assays and in vivo animal cancer models for the evaluation of promising anticancer small molecules, and for the characterization of their mechanism of action.
Email: jose.arencibia@iit.it
Pepe joined our group in June 2014, from the Research Group Phosphosites at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital of Frankfurt. Working in close collaboration with computational and medicinal chemists in the group, Pepe develops and applies in vitro cell culture assays and in vivo animal cancer models for the evaluation of promising anticancer small molecules, and for the characterization of their mechanism of action.
Nicolette Brindani, PhD (Medicinal Chemistry)
Email: nicoletta.brindani@iit.it
Nicoletta joined our group in February 2018, from the D3-IIT medicinal chemistry group.
She is involved in anticancer drug discovery projects. Working in close collaboration with computational chemists in the group, Nicoletta designs and synthesizes new chemical entities with promising anticancer activity, building structure-activity relationships (SARs) centered on starting hits.
Email: nicoletta.brindani@iit.it
Nicoletta joined our group in February 2018, from the D3-IIT medicinal chemistry group.
She is involved in anticancer drug discovery projects. Working in close collaboration with computational chemists in the group, Nicoletta designs and synthesizes new chemical entities with promising anticancer activity, building structure-activity relationships (SARs) centered on starting hits.
Adam Pecina, PhD (Computational Chemistry)
Email: adam.pecina@iit.it
Adam joined our group in January 2018 from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (CZE). Adam uses quantum chemistry and molecular simulations to rationally design potent inhibitors of pharmaceutically relevant biomolecules and to understand mechanisms of action of functionalized nanoparticles. Since June 2019, Adam has received a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (project focused on metal-dependent catalysis of nanozymes).
Email: adam.pecina@iit.it
Adam joined our group in January 2018 from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague (CZE). Adam uses quantum chemistry and molecular simulations to rationally design potent inhibitors of pharmaceutically relevant biomolecules and to understand mechanisms of action of functionalized nanoparticles. Since June 2019, Adam has received a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (project focused on metal-dependent catalysis of nanozymes).
Jissy Kuriappan, PhD (Computational Chemistry)
Email: jissy.kuriappan@iit.it
Jissy will work mainly on molecular modeling and simulations for cancer research. She will be involved in projects targeting topoisomerases, looking at function and inhibition through the use of both MD and QM/MM methods, Jissy is recipient of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship.
Email: jissy.kuriappan@iit.it
Jissy will work mainly on molecular modeling and simulations for cancer research. She will be involved in projects targeting topoisomerases, looking at function and inhibition through the use of both MD and QM/MM methods, Jissy is recipient of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship.
Inacrist Molina Geronimo, PhD (Computational Chemistry)
Email: inacrist.geronimo@iit.it
Inacrist joined our group in 2019 from the Philippine, after extended experience in research labs in USA and Europe. Inacrist's is currently targeting polymerases for the discovery of new drugs.
Email: inacrist.geronimo@iit.it
Inacrist joined our group in 2019 from the Philippine, after extended experience in research labs in USA and Europe. Inacrist's is currently targeting polymerases for the discovery of new drugs.
PhD students
Marco Borgogno (Medicinal Chemistry)
Email: marco.borgogno@iit.it
Marco joined our group in Sept 2014 to carry on his undergraduate thesis work, and he graduated in Biotechnology at the University of Genoa. Marco is now PhD student in our group. He works on the design and synthesis of new chemical entities with promising pharmacological effects to treat cancer and neurological disorders.
Email: marco.borgogno@iit.it
Marco joined our group in Sept 2014 to carry on his undergraduate thesis work, and he graduated in Biotechnology at the University of Genoa. Marco is now PhD student in our group. He works on the design and synthesis of new chemical entities with promising pharmacological effects to treat cancer and neurological disorders.
Federico Munafò (Medicinal Chemistry)
Email: federico.munafo@iit.it
Federico graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Pisa. Federico is now a PhD student in our group, and will work on the design and synthesis of new chemical entities with promising pharmacological activity to treat cancer.
Email: federico.munafo@iit.it
Federico graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Pisa. Federico is now a PhD student in our group, and will work on the design and synthesis of new chemical entities with promising pharmacological activity to treat cancer.
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Elisa Donati (Computational Chemistry)
Email: elisa.donati@iit.it Elisa joined our group in July 2017 from the University of Bologna, where she graduated in chemistry at the G. Ciamician department. Elisa is now PhD student in our group. She uses both MD and QM/MM simulations to investigate nucleic acid processing metalloenzymes that are also target for anticancer drug discovery efforts. |
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Jacopo Manigrasso (Computational Chemistry)
Email: jacopo.manigrasso@iit.it Jacopo joined our group in Sept 2017 from the University of Siena, where he graduated in pharmaceutical chemistry. Jacopo is now PhD student in our group. He applies docking and MD simulations to investigate function and inhibition of selected targets for anticancer drug discovery. |
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Sebastián Franco-Ulloa (Computational Chemistry)
Email: sebastian.franco@iit.it After visiting us in 2016 as an undergrad student, Sebastian is now back with us from the Universidad de los Andes - Bogotá, Colombia, he is now a PhD student in our group. Sebastian will work on computational methods applied to nanoparticles and lipid bilayers. |
Fellowship students
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Matteo Borella (Computational Chemistry)
Email: matteo.borella@iit.it Matteo first visited our lab in 2018 to carry out his master's thesis, and, in 2019, he obtained his master's degree in Chemical Engineering. Matteo received a fellowship to join again our group, where he is studying the principles of gold nanoparticle-based chemosensing from a computational perspective. |
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Maria Antonietta La Serra (Computational Chemistry)
Email: maria.laserra@iit.it Maria Antonietta received her master's degree in Biotechnology from the University of Calabria. She joined our group in June 2019 as a fellow, and she will do research on drug discovery using computational methods. |
Our Group February 2018
Our Group December 2016
Our group, July 2014
Former Members
Elirosa Minniti, PhD Student 2014-2018.
Jose Antonio (Tony) Ortega, Postdoc February 2013-January 2018. Tony is now a Research Scientist in the group of Dr. Cavalli in IIT.
Vito Genna, PhD Student 2013-2017. He obtained a postdoc position in Prof. Orozco's Lab at the Institute of Biomedical Research-Barcelona.
Giuseppina La Sala, PhD Student 2013-2017. She is now Application Scientist at BiKi Technologies.
Giulia Palermo, PhD Student 2010-2013. She obtained a postdoc at EPFL-Lausanne with Prof. U. Rothlisberger. Then, postdoc with Prof. McCammon at UCSD. She is now Ass Prof at UC Riverside.
Marino Convertino, Junior postdoc Oct 2012 -Dec 2013. He obtained a postdoc at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Prof. Dokholyan. He is now Research Assistant Professor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jose Antonio (Tony) Ortega, Postdoc February 2013-January 2018. Tony is now a Research Scientist in the group of Dr. Cavalli in IIT.
Vito Genna, PhD Student 2013-2017. He obtained a postdoc position in Prof. Orozco's Lab at the Institute of Biomedical Research-Barcelona.
Giuseppina La Sala, PhD Student 2013-2017. She is now Application Scientist at BiKi Technologies.
Giulia Palermo, PhD Student 2010-2013. She obtained a postdoc at EPFL-Lausanne with Prof. U. Rothlisberger. Then, postdoc with Prof. McCammon at UCSD. She is now Ass Prof at UC Riverside.
Marino Convertino, Junior postdoc Oct 2012 -Dec 2013. He obtained a postdoc at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Prof. Dokholyan. He is now Research Assistant Professor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Former Visitors
Andrés Felipe Vásquez Jiménez (Computational Chemsitry), from the Universidad de los Andes - Bogotá, Colombia, group of Prof Andrés González Barrios (May, 2018 - Nov, 2018).
Sebastián Franco-Ulloa (Computational Chemistry), from the Universidad de los Andes - Bogotá, Colombia, group of Prof. Gian Pietro Miscione (Jan, 2016 - Apr, 2016). Sebastian came back for his PhD, in our group.
Sebastián Franco-Ulloa (Computational Chemistry), from the Universidad de los Andes - Bogotá, Colombia, group of Prof. Gian Pietro Miscione (Jan, 2016 - Apr, 2016). Sebastian came back for his PhD, in our group.
