The Department is delighted to welcome Professor Giulia Palermo, a world-renowned computational biophysicist recognized for her pioneering computational studies of genome editing systems. She will join the UCLA faculty as a Full Professor on July 1, 2026.
“We are excited to welcome Giulia Palermo to UCLA,” said Professor Miguel García-Garibay, UCLA’s Dean of Physical Sciences. “Dr. Palermo brings exceptional expertise in large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, computational biophysics, and high-performance computing, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) methodologies for understanding and engineering biological systems. Her research will open new frontiers in how we model and predict gene regulation at the intersection of interpretable AI, computational chemistry, and physics, exemplifying the innovative and interdisciplinary spirit that defines UCLA’s scientific community.”
Currently a Professor of Bioengineering and Chemistry at the University of California, Riverside, Palermo will transition her group to UCLA in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. The Palermo group is known for their innovative computational studies of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Her team will continue to push the boundaries of computational biophysics, developing integrative multiscale approaches that bridge molecular dynamics, quantum mechanics, and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) modeling with emerging AI methodologies such as Graph Neural Networks (GNN) and causation-inference models. Looking ahead, her lab will tackle some of the most exciting frontiers in genome engineering, investigating programmable DNA “knock-ins” and “knock-outs” through computation. Through advanced simulations and AI-driven strategies, the lab aims to deepen our understanding of genome editing mechanisms and enable computers and AI to model, predict, and guide the function of DNA- and RNA-editing systems. This vision seeks to empower in silico molecular design to establish predictive approaches that drive the rational design and engineering of complex biomolecular systems.
A native of Italy, Palermo earned a doctorate from the Italian Institute of Technology in 2013, under the supervision of Dr. Marco De Vivo. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded an early career fellowship to join the group of Professor Ursula Roethlisberger at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In 2016, she became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Diego, working with Professor J. Andrew McCammon and funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship.
“Her work has consistently deepened the understanding of CRISPR-Cas9, and has offered new perspectives on how molecular machines operate at the atomic level. With her passion for interdisciplinary collaboration and mentorship, Professor Palermo brings both scientific excellence and inspiring leadership to UCLA”, said Professor Daniel Neuhauser, the head of the Physical and Theoretical search committee.
Palermo is a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and has received several prestigious honors, including the Corwin Hansch Award for Outstanding Scientists Under 40, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry. An active educator passionate about teaching, Palermo’s lab strives to create research opportunities to inspire students to excel in their scientific careers.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
