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Jessica Valle Orero

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Jessica Valle Orero

Assistant Professor

  • Department: Computer Science, Math and Environmental Science
  • Office: 
    PL-1
  • Office Hours: 
    Tuesdays and Fridays by appointment

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Professor Valle-Orero obtained her PhD in 2012 in applied soft matter physics by the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. Her research was centered in studies of the dynamics and structural properties of DNA fibers. These studies were carried out with a variety of techniques such as neutron and X-ray scattering methods. She then went to do a postdoctoral research in Fernandez Lab at Columbia University (NYC), where she broadened her expertise in the interface between physics and biochemistry focusing on understanding the dynamics and mechanics of protein folding at single molecule level. She is currently conducting biophysics research at the ENS Paris. 

The physics of biomolecules has been the central theme of her research activity, however her work has actually covered a variety of topics, techniques, and methods, from studies of statistical ensembles of molecules and bulk systems to single molecule investigations. Her research had a strong experimental focus, but, as experiments must always be completed by a theoretical understanding to reveal their full potential, she devoted significant efforts to models and theories to analyze her results. She performed experiments with large scale instruments (X-ray and neutron scattering techniques), but also used laboratory scale apparatus allowing her to investigate phenomena outside the range in which they are generally measured. Moreover, in her work she tried to make the link between the molecular and macroscopic scales, showing for instance how properties of DNA can develop into a glass or how protein conformations are related to tissue elasticity.

To  date, she had taught courses at various higher education institutions, including Columbia University, Ecole Normale Superieure, Ecole Superieure Commerce Paris, and AUP. She became an Assistant professor at AUP in 2022. 



Education/Degrees

MSci Physics and Astronomy 2004 – 2008. University College of London, (London, UK)
Internships: Institute Laue-Langevin (Grenoble, 8weeks - 2007); European Space Agency (Madrid, 5weeks -2006).
Ph.D. Physics 2009 – 2012. École Normale Supérieure de Lyon/ Institute Laue-Langevin
Postdoctoral researcher 2013 – 2017. Fernandez Lab at Columbia University (NYC, USA)
Postdoctoral researcher 2018 – 2022. Biophysics Lab at École Normale Supérieure, Paris.

Conferences & Lectures

1. J. Valle-Orero, M.Rieu, P.L.T. Tran, A. Joubert, J-F. Allemand, V. Croquette, and J-B Boule, Strand-switching mechanism of Pif1 helicase induced by its collision with a G-quadruplex embedded in dsDNA, NAR 50, 8767-8778 (2022)
2. M.Rieu, J. Valle-Orero, B. Ducos, Jean-Francois Allemand, and Vincent Croquette, Fluorescence-free quantification of protein/nucleic-acid binding
through single-molecule kinetic locking, Comm. Biol 4, 1-9 (2021)
3. S. Raj, D. Bagchi, J. Valle Orero, J. Banroques, NK. Tanner, and V. Croquette, Mechanistic characterization of the DEAD-box RNA helicase Ded1 from yeast as revealed by a novel technique using single-molecule magnetic
tweezers, NAR 47, 3699 (2019).
4. R. Berkovich, VI. Fernandez, G. Stirnemann, J. Valle-Orero, JM. Fernandez, Segmentation and the entropic elasticity of modular protein, J. Phys.Chem. Lett. 9, 4707 (2018).
5. J. Valle-Orero, R. Tapias-Rojo, EC. Eckels, JA. Rivas-Pardo, I. Popa, JM.Fernandez, Proteins breaking bad: A free energy perspective, J. Phys. Chem.Lett, 8, 362 (2017).
6. J. Valle-Orero, JA. Rivas-Pardo, R. Tapias-Rojo, I.l Popa, DJ. Echelman,S. Haldar, JM. Fernandez, Mechanical deformation accelerates protein ageing, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 56 (2017).
7. J. Valle-Orero, JA. Rivas-Pardo, I. Popa, Multidomain proteins under force, Nanotechnology, 28, 174003 (2017).
8. S. Haldar, R. Tapias-Rojo, EC. Eckels, J. Valle-Orero, JM. Fernandez, Trigger factor chaperone acts as a mechanical foldase, Nat. Comm 8, 668 (2017).
9. I. Popa, JA. Rivas-Pardo, EC. Eckels, DJ. Echelman, CL. Badilla, J. Valle-Orero, JM. Fernandez, A HaloTag anchored ruler for week-long studies of protein dynamics, J. Am. Chem. Soc, 138, 10546 (2016) .
10. J. Valle-Orero, EC. Eckels, G. Stirnemann, I. Popa, R. Berkovich, JM.Fernandez, The elastic free energy of a tandem modular protein under force, BBRC, 460, 434 (2015) .
11. A. Wildes, L. Khadeeva, W. Trewby, J. Valle-Orero, A. Studer, J-L Garden, M. Peyrard, Melting of Highly Oriented Fiber DNA Subjected to Osmotic Pressure, J.Phys. Chem. B, 119, 4441 (2015).
12. J. Valle-Orero, N. Theodorakopoulos, A. Wildes, S. Cuesta-Lopez, J-L.Garden and M. Peyrard, Thermal denaturation of A-DNA, New. J. Phys,16, 113017 (2014).
13. S. Yasar, R. Podgornik, J. Valle-Orero, M. Johnson, and V. Adrian Parsegian,Continuity of states between the cholesteric--> line hexatic transition and the condensation transition in DNA solutions, Sci. Rep, 4, 6877 (2014).
14. A. Kahouli, J. Valle-Orero, J-L Garden and M. Peyrard, Ionic mobility in DNA films studied by dielectric spectroscopy, Eur. Phys. J. E, 37, 82 (2014).
15. J. Valle-Orero, A. Wildes, J-L Garden and M. Peyrard, Purification of A-form DNA fiber samples by the removal of B-form DNA residues, J. Phys.Chem. B, 117, 6 (2013).
16. J.Valle-Orero, J-L Garden, J. Richard, A. Wildes and M. Peyrard, Calorimetric study of melted DNA glass, AIP Conf. Proc. 1518, 766-771 (2013).
17. J. Valle-Orero, J-L Garden, J. Richard, A. Wildes and M. Peyrard, Glassy behavior of denatured DNA films studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry, J. Phys.Chem. B. 116, 4394 (2012).
18. J. Valle-Orero, N. Theodorakopoulos, S. Cuesta-Lopez, J-L. Garden, M.Peyrard and A. Wildes, Institute Laue Langevin Annual Report 2011, Soft Matter Scientific Highlight, pag. 40.
19. A. Wildes, N. Theodorakopoulos, J. Valle-Orero, S. Cuesta-Lopez, J-L.Garden and M. Peyrard, Structural correlations and melting of B-DNA fibers, Phys. Rev. E. 83, 061923 (2011).
20. A. Wildes, N. Theodorakopoulos, J. Valle-Orero, S. Cuesta-Lopez, J-L.Garden and M. Peyrard, Thermal denaturation of DNA studied with neutron
scattering, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 048101 (2011).