Hey everyone! We will be having an Office Hour next week on 4/04/2025 at 11 AM CST (https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html). It will be hosted by @Sciren. We'll be discussing the latest Small molecule puzzle series, and he will be join by a researcher from the Meiler Lab. Dr. Ledwitch is a Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University and our main collaborator on the current HEKESI puzzle in Foldit. (More details in the comments)
Dr. Ledwitch works in the Chemistry Department, the Center for Structural Biology, and the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Her research focuses on understanding how proteins move and change shape, and how those changes affect drug binding. She uses powerful computer methods—including machine learning and molecular simulations—to model these protein movements, study how disease mutations affect them, and search massive virtual libraries (over 51 billion molecules!) to find potential new drugs. Her goal is to bring together computer science and biology to solve tough problems in drug discovery and protein science.
The chat transcript is on the wiki: 4 April 2025 - Office hour with sciren and ledwitkv