Lorenzo Casalino

Project Title: Influenza Virulence and Transmissibility through the Computational Microscope

My work embraces a multiscale computational protocol that exploits different methods (Molecular Dynamics, Brownian Dynamics), analyses algorithms (Markov state model, PCA) and modeling tools for crossing the spatial scales (from molecular to subcellular / cellular) and exploring events occurring in different temporal scales. I will apply this computational approach to build a model of the entire influenza A (H1N1) virion, with all the surface components revealed and treated for the first time at atomic-level of detail. Unprecedented all-atom simulations of this realistic ~160 million-atoms model will serve to shed light on the Influenza A virus biology, virulence and transmissibility, with a particular emphasis on the role played by the glycans exposed by the neuraminidase and hemagglutinin glycoproteins.

Mentors: Rommie Amaro and Ian Wilson

Rommie Amaro: ramaro@ucsd.edu

Ian Wilson: wilson@scripps.edu