PI
Roberto Covino
Theoretical and computational biophysics, statistical modelling and machine learning
PhD Students
Elena Spinetti
Atomistic and coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations
more about me and my research:
I come from Italy where I graduated from the Master’s program in Quantitative and Computational Biology (University of Trento) and I am now a PhD student in Biophysics.
My work aims to use Molecular Dynamics simulations to understand the structural dynamics and organization of proteins that play an important role in health and disease, including IRE1 and the HIV protein Env.
Serena Arghittu
In silico meets in situ for cutting-edge protein research
more about me and my research:
I began my PhD in Roberto’s lab in 2022. During this great time, I have been leveraging atomistic and coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study large membrane proteins, such as the human glycoprotein c-Met and the Mycoplasma pneumoniae lipid transporter P116. I work closely with experimentalists daily. Their results are a crime scene to decipher through in silico experiments. Inspired by one of my collaborations, I recently got invested in applying AI to interpret cryo-tomograms and plan to delve further into deep-learning applications.
Magnus Petersen
Developing physics-grounded generative models for molecular dynamics sampling
more about me and my research:
I am currently a PhD student since 2023, focusing on the development of deep generative models for molecular dynamics and enhanced sampling.
My work involves leveraging diffusion models and flow matching, with an emphasis on grounding these methods in the known physics and symmetries of molecular systems.
Prior to my PhD, I worked as a data scientist specializing in using deep learning techniques for money laundering detection.
In addition to my research, I am passionate about self-organizing systems, neural cellular automata, and creating deep learning methods for artistic applications.
Gianmarco Lazzeri
Accelerating molecular simulations with Machine Learning
more about me and my research:
PhD Student at the CovinoLab since 2021.
Graduated in Physics at the University of Pisa (Bachelor’s degree, 2017), and in Quantitative and Computational Biology at the University of Trento (Master’s, 2020). His academic career is leading him North. With a knack for developing methods, aims to channel his talent towards good scientific practices. Currently using Artificial-Intelligence to investigate complex processes in biological systems. Hopes to update this description soon with some exciting results.
Lars Dingeldein
Simulation-based inference for molecular biophysics
more about me and my research:
I am a PhD student in the Lab of Roberto Covino at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. I pursued my Bachelor’s degree in Biophysics at the University of Frankfurt and later switched to Physics for my Master’s.
My current work involves using deep-learning-based inference techniques to address complex inverse problems in molecular biophysics. Specifically, I focus on utilizing simulation-based inference for cryo-EM and single-molecule force spectroscopy.
Visiting PhD Students
Francesco Carnovale
Molecular dynamics simulation and ab-initio techniques
more about me and my research:
Francesco Carnovale holds a bachelor’s in Physics (University of Milan “La statale”) and a master’s in Quantitative Computational Biology (University of Trento).
His master’s project involved the study of Interleukin 22 receptor transmembrane domains and their interaction with the membrane lipid environment, with a focus on cholesterol-specific interactions.
He joined the SBP (Statistical and Biological Physics group) at University of Trento as a PhD student in Nov. 2022 taking part to the European project “MIMOSA” whose final aim is to extend Atom Probe Tomography technique to biological system to study proteins structures and conformations.
His contribution to the project consists in studying protein-laser interaction with the aid of ab-initio calculation (more specifically TD-DFT simulations) and protein conformational changes, due to interaction with a silica embedding matrix, with the aid of MD simulations.
Since then he has also continued to work on his master project thanks to an active collaboration with PI’s lab. His experience spans across physics, biophysics, programming and high performance computing (HPC), with a focus on MD simulations and ab-initio techniques.
Master’s Students
Emil Jackel
Applied transition path sampling on protein dimerization
more about me and my research:
Gabriel Hella
Molecular dynamics simulations of biological systems
more about me and my research:
Gabriel did his bachelor degree in biochemistry (2021/University of Cologne) on (wet lab) fibrillinopathy research, and is currently studying Biochemistry at Goethe University Frankfurt, working on MD simulations with experimental collaborators
Bachelor’s Students
Alexander de Barros Noll
Simulation-based inference for dynamical diffusion models
more about me and my research:
Alumni
Jan Stuke
Former Master’s student, now PhD student at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt am Main.
Danial Ghamari
Bachelor’s Students:
Rafael Hein (Biophysics, 2023)
Kai Stock (Informatics, 2023)