Functional and Molecular Imaging, Ion Channels, Transporters and Neurotransmitter Receptors
Dr. Giacomo Fiorin is a computational membrane biophysicist in the NINDS intramural program.
He received a M.S. in physics from the University of Padua and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, in 2006. After holding postdoctoral appointments at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University (both with Dr. Michael Klein), he was promoted to assistant professor of research in 2011 and to associate professor or research in 2015.
After several years as an external collaborator of the NIH, in 2020 Giacomo was hired as a NINDS staff scientist, associated with the Computational Structural Biology (CSB) lab (PI: Dr. Lucy Forrest) and the Theoretical Molecular Biophysics (TMB) lab at NHLBI (PI: Dr. José Faraldo-Gómez, now a HHMI program officer). During that time, he conducted research projects and managed scientific computer systems for both labs.
Currently, Dr. Fiorin continues his ongoing research effort with the CSB lab, while also collaborating with the Scientific Computing Support (SCS) section to maintain scientific software applications for the NINDS intramural laboratories.
Research Interests:
Dr. Fiorin's research uses atomically detailed simulations to understand how lipids and proteins govern the mechanics and morphology of a cell's membrane. He also develops, together with several collaborators, the widely used collective variables (Colvars) software library for enhanced sampling simulations. Lastly, Dr. Fiorin is tasked with the maintenance and optimization of scientific computer systems, and routinely advises his colleagues on leveraging high-performance computing in their research projects.
Selected Publications
- “Membrane free-energy landscapes derived from atomistic dynamics explain nonuniversal cholesterol-induced stiffening.” Fiorin G, Forrest LR, Faraldo-Gómez JD. PNAS Nexus. 2023 Aug 17;2(8):pgad269.
- “Direct Derivation of Free Energies of Membrane Deformation and Other Solvent Density Variations From Enhanced Sampling Molecular Dynamics.” Fiorin G, Marinelli F, Faraldo-Gómez JD. J Comput Chem. 2020 Feb 15;41(5):449-459.
- “Coexistence of Lipid Phases Stabilizes Interstitial Water in the Outer Layer of Mammalian Skin.” MacDermaid CM, Hall KW, DeVane RH, Klein ML, Fiorin G. Biophys J. 2020 Apr 7;118(7):1588-1601.
- “Large-scale state-dependent membrane remodeling by a transporter protein.” Zhou W, Fiorin G, Anselmi C, Karimi-Varzaneh HA, Poblete H, Forrest LR, Faraldo-Gómez JD. eLife. 2019 Dec 19;8:e50576.
- “Using collective variables to drive molecular dynamics simulations.” Fiorin G, Klein ML, Hénin J. Mol. Phys. 2013 22-23:3345-3362