Celeste Sagui

Celeste Sagui is a Professor in the Department of Physics at North Carolina State University (NC State), affiliated with the College of Sciences. She holds additional roles as a faculty affiliate in Genomics Sciences at NC State and is a member of the Center for High Performance Simulation. Her research focuses on computational biophysics, biomolecular simulations, and free energy methods applied to nucleic acid structures, protein dynamics, and nanotechnology systems. She has contributed to the AMBER simulation package development, co-authoring versions from 10 to 14.

Education:

• Doctorate in Physics, University of Toronto (1995)
• Licentiate degree, National University of San Luis, Argentina

Research Interests: Sagui’s work explores DNA/RNA structure and phase transitions, electrostatic interactions, and methodologies for large-scale molecular simulations. Recent studies include nucleic acid hairpin instabilities linked to neurodegenerative diseases, polyglutamine aggregation mechanisms, and novel DNA motifs like the eGZ structure in Z-DNA. She employs quantum chemistry, density functional theory, and phase-field models to investigate systems ranging from biomolecules to nanomaterials.

Publications: Her recent work emphasizes nucleic acid dynamics, free energy landscapes, and computational methods for studying diseases such as Friedreich’s ataxia and polyglutamine disorders. Key contributions include advancements in laser-driven simulations and infrared spectroscopy analysis of protein structures.

Labs/Teams: Active in the Center for High Performance Simulation, focusing on high-throughput computational modeling and collaborative software development for biomolecular research.