Sara M. Vaianaمشاهده پروفایل
دانشیار
Sara M. Vaiana serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Arizona State University with additional affiliation at the Center for Biological Physics, where her work bridges physics, chemistry, and biological sciences to investigate fundamental protein behaviors. She received her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Palermo, Italy, in 2004, establishing her foundation in soft matter physics applied to biological systems. Her research program centers on two critical biophysical domains: Conformational dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and their functional roles in biological processes Mechanisms driving liquid-liquid phase separation and amyloid protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases Dr. Vaiana's laboratory pioneers custom time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy and multi-angle light scattering techniques to probe protein structure and self-assembly, operating through extensive collaborations with theoretical physics, biochemistry, and molecular biology research groups. No scientific awards were documented in the source material. She mentors graduate researchers through dissertation supervision (PHY 799) and research courses (PHY 792), supported by external funding for her experimental investigations into protein physics. Her laboratory functions as an interdisciplinary nexus within ASU's physics department, developing innovative optical instrumentation to address complex questions about protein behavior in health and disease contexts.


