Team
| Antoni Luque, Ph.D. | Associate Professor at the University of Miami since 2023 Organizational Role: Principal Investigator Research Interest: Physical Virology |
 Picture from 2023 | Antoni (Toni) is steering the lab to investigate the interplay between the physics and evolution of viruses. He received his Ph.D. in Physics in 2011 from the University of Barcelona and trained as a postdoc in Computational Biology at New York University from 2012 to 2014. Toni joined San Diego State University as an Assistant Professor in 2015 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. He was hired as an Associate Professor at the University of Miami in 2023. He is a big F.C. Barcelona soccer fan and loves good food. |
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| Sergio Cobo-López | Postdoc since 2023 |
 Picture from … | Sergio Cobo-López is a postdoctoral researcher at the Luquelab and the Rohwerlab. He develops mathematical models for the ecology of bacteria and bacteriophage. Sergio received his Ph.D. in Physics from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain) in 2020 and joined San Diego State University that year. Since 2023, Sergio has been a Margarita Salas postdoctoral fellow. In his free time, he loves swimming, running, biking, and exercising in general. |
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| Omer Nadel | Postdoc since 2024 Organizational Role: Director of R&D Operations Research Interest: Molecular Virology |
 Picture from 2023 | Omer Nadel is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Miami in Antoni Luque’s lab, and at San Diego State University in Forest Rohwer’s lab. His research focuses on finding novel families of viruses and the implications of their evolutionary origins. Omer received his Ph.D. in Marine Microbiology in 2024 from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In his free time, he likes to play football and chase waves. |
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| Michael Cioffi | Postdoc since 2024 Organizational Role: Director of Advanced Computing Research Interest: Molecular Modeling & Simulation |
 Picture from 2023 | Michael (Mike) Cioffi is a postdoctoral researcher in the Luque Lab at the University of Miami. His research focuses on investigating the dynamics of viral capsid stability, assembly, and disassembly through various in silico techniques. Mike earned his Ph.D. in Physics (Computational Biophysics) from Florida International University in 2024. |
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| Lucas Carbajal | Research Associate since 2024 Organizational Role: Associate Lab Manager Research Interest: Dynamical System Modeling |
 Picture from 2024 | Lucas Carbajal is a Research Associate of the Luque Lab at the University of Miami, having started as a volunteer in the summer. Lucas’ work involves the dynamics of phage–bacterial systems under a weighted process methodology. |
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| Abelardo Aguilar | PhD Student since 2023 Organizational Role: Senior Specialist of Advanced Computing Research Interest: Viral Ecology & Evolution |
 Picture from 2024 | Abelardo Aguilar is a PhD student at the University of Miami. His research focuses on the evolution and physics of viruses using computational modeling and bioinformatics. |
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| Md Imran Noor | PhD Student since 2024 Organizational Role: Senior Specialist of R&D Operations Research Interest: Molecular Virology |
 Picture from … | Noor is a Ph.D. student in Dr. Antoni Luque’s Virus Ecology and Evolution Lab at the University of Miami. His current research focuses on engineering innovative and stable AAV capsid designs that can accommodate larger genomes. |
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| Michela Effendie | Master’s Student since 2024 Organizational Role: Senior AI Specialist Research Interest: AI & Data Analysis |
 Picture from 2024 | Michela Effendie is a Master’s in Data Science student at the University of Miami, working in the Luque Lab and DSCB Lab. |
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| Latim Jonathan | Master’s Student since 2024 |
 Picture from … | Jonathan Latim is a Master’s in Data Science student at the University of Miami. He is currently working on building an AI research assistant in the Luque Lab. |
| Functional Resume |
| Jose-Bernard Sedalo | Research Assistant since 2023 |
 Picture from 2024 | Jose-Bernard is an undergraduate at the University of Miami, majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Mathematics and Biology. |
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| Messiah Godfred Majid | Research Assistant since 2025 |
 Picture from … | Messiah is a sophomore at the University of Miami, studying Computer Science, Mathematics, and Biology. His research interests lie in computational biology and microbial/viral systems. |
| Functional resume |
| Ian Fitzmaurice | Research Assistant since 2025 |
 Picture from … | Ian Fitzmaurice is an Isaac Bashevis Singer Scholar at the University of Miami, pursuing a double major in Biology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology with a minor in Chemistry. His research interests center on genetic and molecular approaches to studying virology. Outside of research, Ian enjoys running and watching movies. |
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