A 24-months postdoctoral position is offered at Université Pierre et Marie Curie – Sorbonne in Paris, under the supervision of Profs. A. Marco Saitta and Fabio Pietrucci.

The project, focused on advanced ab initio free-energy methods (metadynamics and beyond) to model the synthesis of fundamental biochemical bricks under realistic prebiotic conditions, will be developed in strong collaboration with the group of J. Dworkin at NASA Goddard Flight Space Center, and a local research consortium, most notably with the experimental group of Prof. J.-F. Lambert and T. Georgelin (Chemistry Department of UPMC in Paris). The fellowship, funded by the Domaine d’Intérêt Majeur en Astrophysique et Conditions d’Apparition de la Vie (DIM ACAV+) of the Ile-de-France region, should start in 2018, at the earliest convenience.

The candidate should have a PhD in computational physics or chemistry, a solid background in reaction chemistry in solution and/or interface, a good experience in ab initio molecular dynamics and, ideally, in free energy methods. She/he will carry out ab initio, metadynamics-based, explorations of the synthesis channels of biochemically-relevant molecules, reconstruct free-energy landscapes and identify new reaction mechanisms. The candidate will also play a central role in interacting with the experimental partners, to suggest the most relevant experiments, and interpret experimental data and observations.

Interested candidates can apply electronically (CV including full publication list and references) by sending an email to: [email protected]

The selection process will continue until a suitable candidate is found.

Our theory group is a young, dynamical and attractive one, including, besides Profs. Saitta and Pietrucci, 2 postdocs and 3 PhD students. Our recent implication in prebiotic chemistry/origins of life is highlighted by recent invitations at the prestigious ISSOL and Gordon conferences on Origins of Life research; we have also organized in Paris in 2016 the first CECAM workshop on prebiotic chemistry.

Publications related to the subject:

1. Saitta A.M., Saija F. (2014) Miller experiments in atomistic computer simulations. PNAS 111, 13768.
2. Pietrucci F., Saitta A.M. (2015) Formamide reaction network in gas phase and solution via a unified theoretical approach: towards a reconciliation of different prebiotic scenarios. PNAS 112, 15030.
3. Ferus, F. Pietrucci, A.M. Saitta, A. Knizek, P. Kubelik, O. Ivanek, V. Shstivska, S. Civis, Formation of nucleobases in a Miller-Urey reducing atmosphere, PNAS 114, 4306 (2017)
4. Pokrovski, …, A.M. Saitta, et al. Sulfur radical species form gold deposits on Earth, PNAS 112, 13484 (2015)
5. M. Saitta, F. Saija, F. Pietrucci, F. Guyot Ab initio free-energy landscape of Miller-like prebiotic reactions, PNAS 112, E343 (2015).
6. Laporte S., Finocchi F., Paulatto L., Blanchard M., Balan E., Guyot F., Saitta A.M. (2015) Strong electric fields at a prototypical oxide/water interface probed by ab initio molecular dynamics: MgO (001) Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 17, 20382-20390
7. Pietrucci F., Andreoni W. (2011) Graph Theory Meets Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics: Atomic Structures and Transformations at the Nanoscale Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 085504.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antonino_Saitta2

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fabio_Pietrucci