Vanessa A. Leone

Vanessa A. Leone, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biophysics at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). She holds a BS in Biochemistry from the University of the Republic (Uruguay) and a PhD in Functional and Structural Genomics from SISSA/ISAS (Italy). Her postdoctoral training included roles at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics (Germany), NIH’s NHLBI and NINDS (USA), and a Staff Scientist position at NINDS before joining MCW in 2024.

Her research focuses on protein structure, interactions, and mitochondrial processes, using computational methods like molecular dynamics and AI-based structure prediction. Current lab members include graduate student Carlos Herrada and postdoctoral researcher Kesaban Roy Choudhuri.

Publications span 2012–2023, emphasizing ATP synthase mechanisms, ion selectivity, and membrane protein dynamics. Notable work includes studies on protein autoregulation, glycine transporter conformational changes, and integrative modeling of membrane motors.

No scientific awards are explicitly listed, but her extensive postdoctoral and NIH experience reflect her scholarly contributions. Her work bridges computational biology and experimental biophysics, addressing fundamental questions in energy transduction and protein function.