Carla Molteni

Biography

Professor of Physics, King's College London [2014-] Reader in Physics, King's College London [2006-2014] Lecturer in Physics, King's College London [2004-2006] EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow, University of Cambridge [1999-2003] and King's College London [2003] College Research Fellow, New Hall (now Murray Edwards College) [2000-2003] Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Plank Institut fuer Festoerperforschung, Stuttgart (Germany) [1996-1998] EU Human Capital & Mobility Postdoctoral Fellow, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge [1994-1996] PhD in Physics, University of Milan (Italy) [1994] Laurea in Physics, University of Milan (Italy) [1990]

Research Interest

We design computer experiments to elucidate and predict complex processes in materials and biomolecules, by accurately calculating, with the aid of powerful computers, how atoms interact, rearrange and react to external stimuli, such as pressure and light. We use a number of simulation techniques, from classical and ab-initio (density functional theory) molecular dynamics to methods, like metadynamics, for accelerating rare events, plus methodologies to deal with excited states. Systems we have studied range from grain boundaries, liquid metal surfaces, polymers and nanocrystals to sugars, photoactive proteins and neuroreceptors. Current research projects include: the investigation of pressure-induced structural phase-transformations in nanomaterials; the growth of ice crystals the search for accurate and affordable ways to evaluate excitations in biological systems; the elucidation of the microscopic mechanisms of neurotransmitter binding and channel gating mechanisms in ligand-gated ion channels, an important class of biomolecules involved in many neurological disorders;  the characterisation of green tea catechins and their interaction with medically relevant proteins