Biografia

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Valeria Napolitano is a researcher with extensive experience in structural biology, structure-based drug discovery, and structural vaccinology, with a focus on infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. She holds an MSc in Chemical Sciences from the University of Naples Federico II and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD from Jagiellonian University, where she worked on protein–ligand co-crystallization and biophysical assays for inhibitor discovery against Trypanosomiasis. During her PhD, she carried out research visits at the Department of Drug Technology and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Warsaw, and at Ridgeview Instruments AB in Uppsala, Sweden.
After completing her PhD, she joined the Institute of Structural Biology at Helmholtz Zentrum München, where she broadened her expertise in advanced structural biology techniques, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM). Since 2023 she has been a Researcher at the Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging of the CNR, where she works on structural vaccinology and structure-based drug discovery for the development of new vaccines and therapeutics against antibiotic-resistant ESKAPEE pathogens. Her scientific track record includes 29 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and 20 crystallographic structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), reflecting a multidisciplinary expertise spanning biophysics, molecular biology, X-ray crystallography, NMR, CryoEM and computational modelling.

Interessi di ricerca

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Valeria Napolitano’s research interests span structural biology, structure-based drug discovery, and structural vaccinology, with a particular emphasis on infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Her research aims to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying pathogen biology and host–pathogen interactions and to translate structural and biophysical insights into the rational development of novel therapeutic and preventive strategies.
Her work integrates complementary experimental and computational approaches, including X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM), molecular biology, biophysical assays, protein–ligand interaction studies, and computational modelling.
Through structural vaccinology approaches, she focuses on the identification, characterization, and rational design of antigens for the development of next-generation vaccines. Overall, her research seeks to exploit molecular and structural insights to support the discovery and development of innovative therapeutic agents and vaccine candidates against clinically relevant infectious pathogens.

Pubblicazioni scelte

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1. Lorenz S.M., Wahida A., Bostock M.J., Seibt T., Santos Dias Mourão A., Levkina A., Trümbach D., Soudy M., Emler D., Rothammer N., Woo M.S., Sonner J.K., Novikova M., Henkelmann B., Aldrovandi M., Kaemena D.F., Mishima E., Vermonden P., Zong Z., Chen D., Nakamura T., Ito J., Doll S., Proneth B., Bürkle E., Rizzollo F., Escamilla Ayala A., Napolitano V., et al., A fin-loop-like structure in GPX4 underlies neuroprotection from ferroptosis. Cell. 2026 Jan 8;189(1):287-306.e35. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.11.014.
2. Napolitano V., Privitera M., Drulis-Kawa Z., Marasco D., Fallarini S., Berisio R., Squeglia F. Structural and functional features of Klebsiella pneumoniae capsular degradation by the phage depolymerase KP32gp38: implications for vaccination. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2025 Dec;66(6):107596. doi: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2025.107596.
3. Napolitano V., Kramarska E., Ghilardi O., Romero-Saavedra F., Del Vecchio P., Squeglia F., Huebner J., Berisio R. Crystal structure and biophysical characterisation of the enterococcal foldase PpiC, a cross-opsonic antigen against gram-positive nosocomial pathogens. FEBS J. 2025 Oct;292(20):5475-5490. doi: 10.1111/febs.70160.
4. Napolitano V., Dabrowska A., Schorpp K., Mourão A., Barreto-Duran E., Benedyk M., Botwina P., Brandner S., Bostock M., Chykunova Y., Czarna A., Dubin G., Fröhlich T., Hölscher M., Jedrysik M., Matsuda A., Owczarek K., Pachota M., Plettenburg O., Potempa J., Rothenaigner I., Schlauderer F., Slysz K., Szczepanski A., Greve-Isdahl Mohn K., Blomberg B., Sattler M., Hadian K., Popowicz G.M., Pyrc K. Acriflavine, a clinically approved drug, inhibits SARS-CoV- 2 and other betacoronaviruses. Cell Chem Biol. 2022 Jan 11:S2451-9456(21)00513-4. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.11.006. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35021060; PMCID: PMC8751734.
5. Napolitano V., Mróz P., Marciniak M., Kalel V.C., Softley C.A., Janna Olmos J.D., Tippler B.G., Schorpp K., Rioton S., Fröhlich T., Plettenburg O., Hadian K., Erdmann R., Sattler M., Popowicz G.M., Dawidowski M., Dubin G. Structure-based design, synthesis and evaluation of a novel family of PEX5-PEX14 interaction inhibitors against Trypanosoma. Eur J Med Chem. 2022 Dec 5;243:114778. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2022.114778. Epub 2022 Sep 27. PMID: 36194937.