About Me

I'm a CONICET-funded postdoctoral researcher and professor at the National University of Quilmes, Argentina. My research focuses on understanding evolutionary and structural patterns involved in protein promiscuity.

I co-founded Women in Bioinformatics & Data Science LA, a Latin American organization promoting and making visible research carried out by women in these fields. I'm also the creator of Bioinformatics Goes to School, a project bringing bioinformatics to high school biology education.

Professional Experience

Assistant Researcher

2023 - Present
CONICET - Structural Bioinformatics Group, UNQ

Leading research on protein structural evolution and promiscuity. Supervising PhD and Master's students. Developing computational tools for protein cavity analysis.

  • Principal investigator for CaviDB project
  • Supervising 2 doctoral theses and 1 Master's dissertation
  • Collaborating with international research groups in Europe and Latin America

Post-doctoral Fellow

2020 - 2022
CONICET - National Council of Science and Technology

Continued research on protein promiscuity and developed multiple bioinformatics tools and databases.

  • Developed ProtMiscuity database
  • Created CardIAP for calcium image analysis
  • Published 10+ peer-reviewed articles

Professor - Bioinformatics

2019 - Present
National University of Quilmes

Teaching bioinformatics to Computer Science students. Developing innovative teaching methodologies.

  • Created "Bioinformatics Goes to School" teacher training program
  • Developed hands-on programming exercises for biology concepts

Professor - Introduction to Programming

2021 - 2023
UCEMA University

IDPfun Exchange Program

2018
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium

Three-month research stay with Prof. Peter Tompa, working on intrinsically disordered proteins within the H2020-MSCA-RISE framework.

Software & Databases

CaviDB Database of protein cavities and their features in structural and conformational space (2019-present)
ProtMiscuity Database of catalytic promiscuous proteins from 500+ publications (2019)
Cardilib Python library for biomedical image analysis (2021)
CardIAP Calcium Transients Confocal Image Analysis Tool (2021-2023)
OBI Computational tool for positive selection analysis in proteins (2022)

Outreach & Community

Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science Latin America Non-profit organization of women working in the fields of Bioinformatics and Data Science created in 2019 aiming at promoting and making visible the research carried out by women in these fields. | Co-founder
Bioinformatics Goes to School Educational materials for teaching bioinformatics in high schools (2018) | Founder

Selected Publications

Full list: 20+ peer-reviewed articles | 472 citations (Google Scholar)

2026
Structure-based discovery of novel non-competitive IDO1 inhibitors via conformational selection
Patricio Chinestrad, Ana Julia Velez Rueda, Melanie Pérez Küper, Maia Cabrera, Gabriela Salamone, Alejandra Zinni, Ramiro Blanco, Marianela Candolfi, Pablo Lorenzano Menna
January 2026
doi:10.1007/s40203-025-00516-0 (January 2026)
Functional specialization of Ca2+-binding motifs in human MICU1
Leandro Matías Sommese, Nicolás Palopoli, Maria Silvina Fornasari, Gustavo Parisi, Toni Gabaldón, Ana Julia Velez Rueda
February 2026
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.150702 (February 2026)
2024
Homology-based identification and structural analysis of Pangasius hypophthalmus Annexins and Serine proteases to search molecules for wound healing applications
Avila Rodríguez MI, Velez Rueda AJ, Hernández-Pérez J, Benavides J, Sanchez ML
December 2024
2023
CardIAP: Calcium Transients Confocal Image Analysis Tool
Velez Rueda AJ, Garcia Smith A, Gonano LA, Parisi G, Fornasari S, Sommese LM
Frontiers in Bioinformatics
doi:10.3389/fbinf.2023.1137815 (March 2023)
CaviDB: a database of cavities and their features in the structural and conformational space of proteins
Velez Rueda AJ, Bulgarelli FL, Palopoli N, Parisi G
Database
doi:10.1101/2022.08.02.502569 (January 2023)
2022
OBI: A computational tool for the analysis and systematization of the positive selection in proteins
Calvento JH, Bulgarelli FL, Velez Rueda AJ
MethodsX, Elsevier
doi:10.1016/j.mex.2022.101786 (July 2022)
2021
PED in 2021: a major update of the protein ensemble database for intrinsically disordered proteins
Lazar T, Martínez-Pérez E, Quaglia F, Hatos A, Chemes LB, Iserte JA, Méndez NA, Garrone NA, Saldaño TE, Marchetti J, Velez Rueda AJ, et al.
Nucleic Acids Research, 49(D1), D404-D411
doi:10.1093/nar/gkaa1021 (December 2020)
Highlights of the 1st Latin American Conference of Women in Bioinformatics and Data Science
Jiménez L, Costa Conteville L, Feldfeber I, Garnham Didier M, Stegmayer G, Marino-Buslje C, Velez Rueda AJ
The Biophysicist, 2(3)
doi:10.35459/tbp.2020.000174 (2021)
2019
ProtMiscuity: a database of promiscuous proteins
Velez Rueda AJ, Palopoli N, Zacarías M, Sommese LM, Parisi G
Database, 2019, baz103
doi:10.1093/database/baz103 (October 2019)
Bioinformatics calls the school: Use of smartphones to introduce Python for bioinformatics in high schools
Velez Rueda AJ, Benitez GI, Marchetti J, Hasenahuer MA, Fornasari MS, Palopoli N, Parisi G
PLoS Computational Biology, 15(2), e1006473
doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006473 (February 2019)
2018
Large scale analysis of protein conformational transitions from aqueous to non-aqueous media
Velez Rueda AJ, Monzon AM, Ardanaz SM, Iglesias LE, Parisi G
BMC Bioinformatics, 19(1), 27
doi:10.1186/s12859-018-2044-2 (December 2018)

Scientific Service

Conference Organization

  • XI Congreso Argentino de Bioinformática (2025, 2021)
  • 2nd Women in Bioinformatics LA - Scientific Committee (2021)
  • 1st Women in Bioinformatics LA - Executive Committee (2020)
  • PyConAr 2019 - Organizer Committee
  • Latin American Student Council Symposium (2018)

Scientific Societies

  • Argentinean Association for Bioinformatics (A2B2C) - Since 2021
  • Women in Bioinformatics LA - Co-founder (2018-2020)

Funding

  • PIP 2023-205 (2025)
  • Innova CONICET-AWS (2022)
  • Wellcome Trust & CS&S (2022)
  • ACM-W NA Grant (2020-2022)

Supervision

2
Doctoral Theses
(ongoing)
1
Master's Dissertations
(ongoing)
5+
Undergraduate Students

International Collaborations

Centre for Genomic Regulation (Spain) Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Spain) Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium)