Giuseppe Licari
I am both an experimental and computational chemist. During my undergraduate studies, I have acquired experience in organic molecule synthesis and density functional theory calculations. In my PhD, I have worked in an Ultrafast Photochemistry lab studying molecular probes at biomimetic interfaces using state-of-the-art laser systems. I was responsible for the maintenance and development of a Second Harmonic Generation setup, which can specifically probe the static and dynamic properties of interfaces. I performed various quantum mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations to support the experimental findings.
My postdoctoral research projects at the Beckman Institute are focused on the behavior of mechanosensitive probes in biological membranes and on the interaction of small molecules with biological macromolecules like proteins or DNA. I also collaborate with other groups in order to provide a microscopic view of their experimental results using molecular dynamics simulations.
Home Department: Theoretical
and Computational Biophysics Group
Office Address:
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Room 3165
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
405 N. Mathews Ave,
Urbana, IL 61801,
Office Phone: +1 (217) 300-0380
Email Address: glicari@illinois.edu
Education
- Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, Université de Genève (Switzerland), 2013-2018 (group Prof. Eric Vauthey)
- B.S and M.S. in Chemistry, Università degli Studi di Palermo (Italy), 2007-2013 (group Prof. Andrea Pace)
International Experiences
- Internship at the Academy of Science in Prague (Czech Republic) in the Prof. Pavel Jungwirth group, 2017
- Internship at the University of York (England) with Dr. John Slattery, 2013
- Internship at the University of Braunschweig (Germany) in the Prof. Jörg Grunenberg group, 2011
Research Interests
- Mechanosensitive probes for the determination of order in biological membranes
- Molecular dynamics simulations of organic complexes in solution
- Drug-macromolecule interaction and molecular recognition
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Download Video: Closed Format: "MP4" Open Format: "Ogg" Surface Second Harmonic Generation (SSHG) setup (© 2018 Giuseppe Licari) |
Selected Publications
- Multivalent Polymer-Peptide Conjugates-A General Platform for Inhibiting Amyloid Beta Peptide Aggregation
- Polymer-Peptide Conjugates Convert Amyloid into Protein Nanobundles through Fragmentation and Lateral Association
- White-Fluorescent Dual-Emission Mechanosensitive Membrane Probes that Function by Bending Rather than Twisting
- Detecting order and lateral pressure at biomimetic interfaces using a mechanosensitive second-harmonic-generation probe
- Membrane bound COMT isoform is an interfacial enzyme: general mechanism and new drug design paradigm
- Exploring Fluorescent Dyes at Biomimetic Interfaces with Second Harmonic Generation and Molecular Dynamics
- Specific Monitoring of Excited-State Symmetry Breaking by Femtosecond Broadband Fluorescence Upconversion Spectroscopy
- Effective in silico prediction of new oxazolidinone antibiotics: force field simulations of the antibiotic-ribosome complex supervised by experiment and electronic structure methods
Jiang X., Halmes A., Licari G., Smith J. W., Song Y., Moore E., Chen Q., Tajkhorshid E., Rienstra C. M., Moore J. S., ACS Macro Lett., 2019, 8, 1365.
Smith J. W., Jiang X., An H., Barclay A. M., Licari G., Tajkhorshid E., Moore E., Rienstra C. M., Moore J. S., Chen Q., ACS Appl. Nano Mater., 2019, in press.
Humeniuk H.V., Rosspeintner A., Licari G., Kilin V., Bonacina L., Vauthey E., Sakai N., Matile S., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 2018, 75, 10559
Licari G., Beckwith J.S., Soleimanpour S., Matile S., Vauthey E., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2018, 20, 9328
Magarkar A., Parkkila P., Viitala T., Lajunen T., Mobarak E., Licari G., Cramariuc O., Vauthey E., Rog T., Bunker A., Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 3440 (cover paper on the right)
Licari G., Cwiklik L., Jungwirth P., Vauthey E., Langmuir, 2017, 33, 3373
Beckwith J.S., Rosspeintner A., Licari G., Lunzer M., Holzer B., Frohlich J., Vauthey E., J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2017, 8, 5878
Grunenberg J., Licari G., Beilstein J. Org. Chem., 2016, 12, 415
- All other publications can be found in Google Scholar, ResearchGate or ORCID
