Giovanni BellesiaCNLS Postdoctoral Research Associate
T-6/CNLS Theoretical and Computational Biophysics 
Office: TA-3, Bldg 1690, Room 125
Mail Stop: B258
Phone: (505) 667-6871
Fax: (505) 665-2659 gbellesia@lanl.gov
home page Research highlight
- June 2012 - Article introducing a new coarse-grained molecular model for crystalline cellulose just accepted for publication on the Journal of Physical Chemistry B
- March 2012 - On March 28th, I will present two talks at the 2012 National ACS Meeting in San Diego: (1) Multiscale computational study of crystalline cellulose chemical degradation. (2) Sequence periodicity and secondary structure propensity in model proteins.
- December 2011 - Our research on biofuels has been selected as one of the LANL Top 10 science stories of 2011. LANL News Center (December 23, 2011)
- July 2011 - Our research on biofuels published on the Journal of the American Chemical Society has been highlighted in the LANL News and in several scientific websites and blogs. LANL News Center (July 20, 2011)
|  | Educational Background/Employment:- B.Sc. (2002) Physics, Universita' di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy
- Ph.D. (2006) Physical Chemistry, University College Dublin, Ireland
- Professional Training:
- 2002-2005 Teaching Assistant, School of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University College Dublin, Ireland
- 2006-2009 Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara
Research Interests: - Protein folding and aggregation
- Modeling of cellulosic biomass (for biofuel research)
- Depletion potential theories
- Hydrophobic interactions in biological systems
- Cellular growth and self-organization
- Monte Carlo Methods
- Networks in biology
- Information theory
Selected Recent Publications: - Bellesia, G., Chundawat S. et al. Probing the early events associated with liquid ammonia pretreatment of native crystalline cellulose, Journal of Physical Chemistry B 115,9782-9788 (2011)
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- Chundawat, S.*, Bellesia, G.* et al. Restructuring the crystalline cellulose hydrogen bond network enhances its depolymerization rate, Journal of the American Chemical Society 133,11163-11174 (2011)
(link) *shared first authorship
- Bellesia, G., Jewett, A.I., Shea J.-E. Sequence periodicity and secondary structure propensity in model proteins, Protein Science 119,141-154 (2010)
(link)
- Bellesia, G., Shea J.-E. Diversity of kinetic pathways in amyloid fibril formation, Journal of Chemical Physics 131,111102 (2009)
(link)
- Bellesia, G., Shea J.-E. What determines the structure and stability of KFFE monomers, dimers and protofibrils ?, Biophysical Journal 96,875-886 (2009)
(link)
- Bellesia, G., Shea J.-E. Self assembly of beta-sheet forming peptides into chiral fibrillar aggregates, Journal of Chemical Physics 126,245104 (2007)
(link)
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