ESR 9: Maria Elena Castellani

Low energy electron damage in DNA

LightDyNAmics Research

The aim of the project is to unravel the mechanisms of DNA damage caused by low energy electrons. In order to do so, femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in the gas phase will be used. The research will first focus on small nucleotides and oligonucleotides, moving on to larger and more complex structures such as G-quadruplexes. Attention will also be paid to molecular interactions, particularly base stacking.

Scientific Background

M. Elena Castellani graduated in 2016 from University of Bologna with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, after conducting her research project in computational organic chemistry. She moved to Amsterdam later in the same year, where she completed her Master’s degree in 2018 in Biomarkers and chemical clinical analysis. Her research project focused on developing a mass-spectrometry based experimental method for glycan analysis, as well as a bioinformatics tool to analyse the data.

Scientific Publications