Franca Fraternali is Professor in Integrative Computational Biology and newly appointed Director of ISMB
Professor Franca Fraternali is an expert in Structural Bioinformatics and Computational Biophysics. She received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Naples, having spent part of her doctorate at the Physical Chemistry Department of the ETH Zürich (ETHZ). She was awarded an EMBO fellowship to work at the ETHZ, followed by positions at the University of Strasbourg and EMBL Heidelberg. She moved to England as staff scientist at the Mathematical Biology Division of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research. In 2012 she became Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in the Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biology. From 2016 has been involved in the coordination of activities for the partnership with the Francis Crick Institute and has held an attachment position in the Institute. Between 2018 and 2022 she was Director of the Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics.
Professor Fraternali provides leadership in molecular and cellular biophysics guided by her broad experience in many areas of biophysics and computational biology, as well as her outreach to other disciplines like genetics and chemistry.
Franca has recently joined UCL as Director of the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology with a Chair in Integrative Biology. She is focusing on building a vibrant multidisciplinary environment that crosses disciplines with a strong computational and artificial intelligence component as a cross-cutting theme.