MEET the PI

Alberto Perez

Alberto Perez is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florida and Associate Director of the Quantum Theory Project. His research sits at the interface of physics, chemistry, and artificial intelligence, with a focus on understanding and predicting how biomolecules move, interact, and function. His group develops integrative computational methods that combine molecular simulations, experimental data, and modern AI tools to tackle challenging problems in protein–peptide and protein–nucleic acid recognition, with applications in peptide-based drug discovery.

His research group is highly collaborative and actively engages with experimental and computational partners worldwide. The team regularly participates in blind, community-wide challenges such as Bits to Binders competition, its a fun way to get everyone up to speed with the latest protocols and compare how our methods work compared to all other state-of-the-art methods.

We are always looking for motivated graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and we have been very fortunate to host visiting students and faculty from around the world. Applications for fellowships and collaborative visits are strongly encouraged.

Outside the lab, Alberto enjoys karate, soccer, and board games. He is passionate about mentoring and communicating science in a way that is both rigorous and accessible. We use VR modeling and AI for our outreach activities.