S. S. Plotkin

Reproductive success of inbred strain MV31 of the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in a self-sustaining inland laboratory culture system

This study establishes a self-sustaining lab culture system for Mnemiopsis leidyi, achieving reproductive success comparable to wild-caught individuals using a co-cultured diet of rotifers and copepods.

De novo design of a β-helix tau protein scaffold: An oligomer-selective vaccine immunogen candidate for Alzheimer's disease

This paper designs a β-helix tau protein scaffold that mimics toxic tau oligomers and shows selective binding to antibodies, suggesting it could be an effective vaccine immunogen for Alzheimer's disease.

PROTHON: A Local Order Parameter-Based Method for Efficient Comparison of Protein Ensembles

PROTHON efficiently compares protein conformational ensembles using local order parameters, outperforming ENCORE in speed and resource usage.

Predicting the feasibility of targeting a conserved region on the S2 domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

The paper assesses the feasibility of targeting a conserved S2 epitope on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, finding it unlikely to be exposed without external factors and suggesting it may be a viable therapeutic target.

Accelerated ensemble generation for cyclic peptides using a Reservoir-REMD implementation in GROMACS

This paper implements and benchmarks Res-REMD in GROMACS for cyclic peptide ensemble generation, showing it accelerates sampling for some systems but not others.

Optimizing epitope conformational ensembles using α-synuclein cyclic peptide "glycindel" scaffolds: A customized immunogen method for generating oligomer-selective antibodies for Parkinson's disease

Tryptophan residues in TDP-43 and SOD1 mediate the cross-seeding and toxicity of SOD1

This study identifies tryptophan residues in SOD1 and TDP-43 that mediate cross-seeding and toxicity in ALS, suggesting a druggable target for therapeutic intervention.

In Silico Determined Properties of Designed Superoxide Dismutase-1 Mutants Predict ALS-like Phenotypes In Vitro and In Vivo

The paper designs and tests SOD1 mutants using computational methods, showing that a destabilizing mutant causes ALS-like phenotypes while a stabilizing mutant rescues them in zebrafish.