Breakout - Energy & Sustainability Session 2 ( BioPhysics)

Zane Thornburg is a Physical Chemistry PhD Candidate in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Zane's research work focuses on the computational and theoretical study of a minimal cell's functions, notably elucidating fundamentals in its genetic information processing. Zane is part of the Luthey-Schulten and Gruebele research groups at UIUC: world-class leading teams in biophysics and pioneers in whole-cell modeling.

Shashank Pant is a Biophysics PhD Candidate in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Shashank's research work focuses on the application of atomistic classical molecular dynamics simulation methods to study the kinetics and thermodynamics of complex biological processes. Shashank is particularly interest in understanding the cell membrane: the fundamentals of its function and associated protein structures. Shashank is part of the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group (TCBG) at UIUC. The TCBG is a world-leader institution on computational biophysics research and develops simulation and visualization software widely used throughout the biophysics community worldwide.

Alan Lopez is a Physics Graduate Student in the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Alan's research work focuses on studying, through classical molecular dynamics simulations, the pathway for virus capsid assembly. Throughout this year, Alan has dedicated a portion of his work towards understanding SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding with ACE2. Alan is part of the Computational Biophysics group at UTEP under the supervision of Dr. Lin Li. The Li Group, as well, focuses on software development - notably on improvements to DelPhi: a software package aimed towards modeling biophysical electrostatic surface interactions.