Gaia Poloni

I am part of a interdisciplinary and dynamic team that is developing a structure based force-field for lipid membranes. The Multi-eGO model is a hybrid computational approach that combines elements of transferable force fields with structure-based modeling techniques. It is designed to capture the behavior of biomolecular systems, originally focusing on protein aggregation processes that occur out-of-equilibrium and are concentration-dependent. The current described project aims to focus on lipid bilayers and to develop a force field in order of studying different types of lipid membranes.

As a Molecular Biotechnology and Bioinformatics class representative, my primary responsibility is to act as a liaison between fellow students and the faculty members. My role is to ensure that the interests and concerns of my classmates are communicated to the faculty, and that the faculty’s policies and decisions are effectively communicated to your classmates.

I gained experience in the Developmental Biology research lab during a traineenship and during research for my moderatorship project. Working in the Murphy lab has given me essential skills to be able to pursue my scientific career. I was trained and shown all standard lab procedures working alongside important projects. Completion of my moderatorship thesis in the subject area of Developmental Biology and the specific interests of the Murphy lab has confirmed my aptitude for laboratory research and my passion for scientific questions related to how organisms form and the computational tools used to analyse these phenomena.

I was responsible for ensuring that our faculties open days run smoothly and efficiently. Managing 5-10 visitors at one time ensuring that they had an enjoyable and informative experience. I was the face of the institution during these events and needed to ensure that all visitors were provided with excellent customer service.

UNI-ECO is an EU funded collaboration between five Universities: (University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, Eötvös Loránd University, Université de Montpellier). A virtual summer school was delivered across the 5 campuses in summer 2021 and I was engaged to assist and manage the UNI-ECO team in the smooth delivery of the virtual sessions. I had responsibilities that included daily meetings with the team, timetabling, emailing participants, assisting in the chat, providing brochures and appropriate links, recordings and edits.