We were able to fix the score function thanks to your discovery of these score function artifacts!
Hopefully you haven't come across any design puzzles since February 2011 (Puzzle 401: Quick Loop Puzzle) where you were able to create poly-Tryptophan helices that scored well.
Just to make sure:
In addition to the poly-tryptophan trick and the pi helix trick, has the EEEERRRR trick been investigated as well? As the name suggests, EEEERRRR refers to repeats of four consecutive glutamates followed by four consecutive arginines. Because this combination allows for easy formation of two side chain hydrogen bonds between residue n and residue n+4 (specifically, between the carboxyl O and two hydrogens on the guanidinium group), it scores very well on an exposed alpha helix and can be game-breaking at times in the past.
The EEEERRRR one has also been previously noted. Fixes are harder for this artifact because the n+4 salt bridge motif is natural and provides stability in helices, though EEEERRRR would not.
The link http://depts.washington.edu/bakerpg/drupal/node/424 appears to be broken. It returned a 'Page not found' message under the Baker laboratory banner.
I found the pdf file at http://depts.washington.edu/bakerpg/drupal/system/files/eiben12A.pdf
I fixed the link at the top as well…
We were able to fix the score function thanks to your discovery of these score function artifacts! film