Paula Himmelsbach

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have become an important tool for understanding biological mechanisms at atomic detail. Such simulations can for example provide a theoretical view on the permeation of a small molecule through a membrane or a protein-substrate binding or unbinding event. Because of the high level of details in the simulation, the timescales are limited to more or less the microsecond range. In my research group, we concentrate on rare events. These are processes inhibited by a high energy barrier, which causes them to occur on timescales larger than microseconds. The actual transition, however, goes quickly enough to simulate. Path sampling methods allow us to focus on the transition itself while skipping over the waiting times in between.
I am always looking for possible applications in the field of cancer research, for example how therapeutics interact with their targets, potentially informing the development and optimization of future cancer treatments.
 

Paula studied physics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) from 2017-2021 (BSc) and from 2021-2024 (MSc). She went on two ERASMUS+ mobilities, in 2020 at Université de Paris and in 2022 at Aalto University in Finland. In her masters, she focused on theoretical condensed matter physics and physical chemistry with training in computational methods like machine learning and computational chemistry. Her master thesis examined relativistic corrections in computational chemistry to improve the prediction two-photon absorption spectra which appear in biological imaging and photodynamic therapy. In her PhD at UGent, she is switching towards path sampling molecular modeling with medically relevant applications. A focus of her work so far has been on diffusion and arrival times.
 

• Lab address: campus UZ Gent, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, RTP building, entrance 97, 9000 Gent, Belgium
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• Paula Himmelsbach is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks