Marco Micciarelli

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dipartimento di Chimica

Università degli studi di Milano

Room 11S Corpo B
via Golgi 19, Milano 20133, ITALY
Tel: +39 02 503 14257
Email: marco.micciarelli@unimi.it


I got my PhD in Fundamental and applied Physics at the University of Naples Federico II. During this period I've been member of the ATLAS European project and worked in a collaboration involving the group of prof. Raffaele Velotta and prof. Carlo Altucci at the University Federico II in Naples (Italy), the LCBC group of prof. Ursula Rothlisberger at EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland), the GCI group of Prof. Giovanni Ciccotti at the University “La Sapienza“ in Rome (Italy) . The aim of the project was to explore the possibilities offered by the use of UV pulsed laser irradiation to selectively induce crosslink reactions between nucleic acids and amino acids for the study of proximity relations of proteins around DNA.

My postdoctoral training includes an appointment at the “Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati“ (SISSA), Trieste (Italy), in the Condensed matter sector within the group of prof. Stefano Baroni. The research project I have been involved in was aimed at developing and testing novel methodologies for the computational modeling of the color optical properties of complex molecular dyes in solution. The project was carried in collaboration with industrial partners working to the identification of most suitable natural dyes expressing custom-designated hues of colors.

My training abroad includes a visiting period of nine months at the EPFL (Switzerland), in the group of Prof. Ursula Roethlisberger and a visiting period of four months in the molecular physics group at the NIRDIMT, in Cluj Napoca (Romania) with an ERASUM Placement grant.

Since November 2016, I have joined the group of Prof. Michele Ceotto at the chemistry department of the University “La Statale“ of Milan as post doctoral fellow. The research project I am involved in is inserted in the ERC project SEMICOMPLEX and aims at developing, testing and applying novel methodologies based on semiclassical approaches for the calculation of vibrational properties of materials and molecules including quantum and anharmonicity effects.

Main research interests

  • Development of new semiclassical approaches for calculation of vibrational spectra.
  • Numerical simulation of complex molecular systems in solution using ab initio MD.
  • Photophysics and photochemistry of molecules in solution.


Selected Publications

  • Marco Micciarelli, Basile Curchod, Sara Bonella, Carlo Altucci, Mohammadhassan Valadan, Ursula Rothlisberger, and Ivano Tavernelli, “Characterization of the Photochemical Properties of 5-Benzyluracil via Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory”, J. Phys. Chem. A 2017, 121 (20), 3909-3917.
  • Iurii Timrov, Marco Micciarelli, Marta Rosa, Arrigo Calzolari, and Stefano Baroni “Multi-model approach to the optical properties of molecular dyes in solution”, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2016, 12, 4423-4429.
  • Marco Micciarelli, Mohammadhassan Valadan, Bartolomeo Della Ventura, Giovanni Di Fabio, Lorenzo De Napoli, Sara Bonella, Ursula Rothlisberger, Ivano Tavernelli, Carlo Altucci, Raffaele Velotta; “Photophysics and photochemistry of a DNA-protein cross-linking model: a synergistic approach combining experiments and theory.”, J. Phys. Chem. B. 2014, 118(19), 4983-92.


Curriculum Vitae

2017 - present
Postdoctoral Fellow, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Milano.
2014 - 2016
Postdoctoral Fellow at SISSA, Condensed Matter sector, group of prof. Stefano Baroni.
2013
Ph. D. in Physics, (fisica fondamentale ed applicata), at the physics department of University Federico II, Advisors: Prof. Carlo Altucci, Dr. Ivano Tavernelli.
2009
M. Sc. in Physics, at the physics department of University Federico II, Advisor: Prof. Carlo Altucci.

Internship periods

2011 - 2014
GCI computational group of prof. Giovanni Ciccotti at the University La Sapienza, Roma, Italy.
2010 - 2011
Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry (Rothlisberger group), EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Teaching experience

2013
Teaching assistance in the course “Laboratorio di calcolo 1” for the first year bachelor degree in physics at La Sapienza university in Rome.

Accolades and Awards

2010
European Science Foundation (ESF) Grant in the framework activity Molecular Simulations in Biosystems and Material Science (SimBioMa). Granted project title: DNA-proteins crosslink reactions simulation with QMMM techniques.
2008
ERASUM Placement grant for a Training period in the molecular physics group at the NIRDIMT, at Cluj Napoca, Romania.