The Team

Giovanni Bottegoni

Giovanni Bottegoni is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Biomolecular Sciences of the University of Urbino and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Following his PhD at the University of Bologna and postdoctoral research at Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, USA), he held roles at the Italian Institute of Technology (Genova, Italy), BiKi Technologies (Genova, Italy) and Heptares Therapeutics (now Nxera, Cambridge, UK). His research focuses on computer-assisted molecular design and computational medicinal chemistry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of the Board of Directors of the QSAR, Chemoinformatics and Modeling Society. He obtained a Master in International Healthcare Management, Economics and Policy (MIHMEP) from SDA Bocconi (Milan, Italy) and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Management of Biotech, Medtech and Pharma Ventures from EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland). In 2015, he was awarded the DCF Prize by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society. In 2018, he was the most meritorious runner-up for the EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist or Chemical Biologist in Industry.

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Mattia Bernetti

Mattia Bernetti is Assistant Professor (RTD-B) at the Department of Biomolecular Sciences of the University of Urbino. He obtained his PhD in Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Bologna in 2018, including a research period at the University of California San Diego. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at SISSA in Trieste and at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa. His research applies computational methods, particularly molecular dynamics simulations, to investigate the structure and dynamics of pharmaceutically relevant biomolecules, including non-coding RNAs. In 2026, he was awarded the DCF Prize by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.

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Gian Marco Elisi

Gian Marco Elisi is a Postdoctoral Researcher (RTD-A) and Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Urbino, where he also contributes to the VITALITY project related to the development of a platform for preclinical drug discovery. He obtained his PhD in Drug Sciences from the University of Parma in 2023, including a research secondment at the University of Geneva, and later worked at Evotec as a Senior Scientist. His research focuses on computational medicinal chemistry, particularly free-energy simulations and virtual-screening approaches with a focus on multi-target compounds.

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Lara Davani

Lara Davani is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Urbino. Her research focuses on the development and application of advanced analytical and biophysical methods to support drug discovery and characterise ligand–target interactions. She obtained her PhD from the University of Bologna in 2022, including a research period at the University of Tübingen. Before joining CAMD, she held postdoctoral positions at the University of Bologna and the University of Milan, working on analytical-method development and quantitative proteomics.

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Matilda Ymeraj

Matilda Ymeraj is a PhD student in the Computer-Assisted Molecular Design Lab under the supervision of Professor Giovanni Bottegoni. She graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo” in 2023. Her doctoral research applies computational chemistry to pharmaceutically relevant molecular systems, with particular expertise in hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) simulations developed through a research secondment at the University of Bristol.

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Sabrina Papi

Sabrina Papi is a Research Fellow at the University of Urbino. She graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Urbino in 2025, completing her dissertation research in the CAMD Lab. She subsequently joined the lab as a Research Fellow, where she applies enhanced-sampling methods to investigate conformational transitions in a target family of medicinal-chemistry interest, in collaboration with an industrial partner.

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