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Ronald Koder

TitleAssociate Professor
Faculty RankAssociate Professor
InstitutionCity College, CUNY
DepartmentPhysics
Address160 Convent Ave CDI11308
New York NY 10031
Phone212-650-5583
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    Other Positions
    TitleAssociate Professor
    InstitutionThe City College of New York
    DepartmentPhysics


    Collapse Biography 
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    2013James L. Peace Chair in Physics, The City College of New York

    Collapse Overview 
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    Work in my laboratory lies at the crossroads of synthetic biology and nanotechnology. Our research projects primarily involve renewable energy production and human health. We use the principles of protein design to create new bioinorganic components, not yet observed in nature, to further extend the possibilities of synthetic biology. These often contain synthetic, non-natural bioinorganic cofactors tailored for their intended purpose. The goal is to fashion protein domains which are clean, modular and ready for assembly into higher order nanostructures with emergent properties. There are a number of related projects underway:

    1. Designed proteins for solar energy conversion
    The development of artificial photosynthesis – i.e. the production of liquid fuels with only sunlight, water, and CO2 – is the Manhattan Project of our age. We are creating self-assembling artificial reaction centers capable of being modularly attached to a variety of catalysts - protein, synthetic chemical catalysts and nanomaterials, in order to catalyze high-energy fuels with light. Projects include:
    -Creating an artificial reaction center
    -Creation and optimization of an artificial oxygen evolving protein
    -Engineering a photosynthetic E.coli
    -Light-driven biofuel generation – solar driven metabolic pathways on hybrid metamaterials
    -Single molecule electronics
    -Self-assembling antireflective biocoatings

    2. Designed protein therapeutics.
    Protein design has advanced to the point where several groups are working on therapeutics. My group has been working on several flavors of therapeutics, in particular battlefield blood substitutes and chemotherapeutics. Projects include:
    -Designed proteins as optimized oxygen carriers for artificial blood
    -An artificial nitric oxide dioxygenase as a chemotherapuetic
    -Safranine-based nitroaromatic prodrug-activating enzymes
    -Supercharged phase-changing proteins for the detection of cancer



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    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse selected publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
    Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
    PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Kim M, McCann JJ, Fortner J, Randall E, Chen C, Chen Y, Yaari Z, Wang Y, Koder RL, Heller DA. Quantum Defect Sensitization via Phase-Changing Supercharged Antibody Fragments. J Am Chem Soc. 2024 May 08; 146(18):12454-12462. PMID: 38687180.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    2. Jamhawi NM, Koder RL, Wittebort RJ. Elastin recoil is driven by the hydrophobic effect. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Mar 12; 121(11):e2304009121. PMID: 38442161.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    3. Zhang L, Brown MC, Mutter AC, Greenland KN, Cooley JW, Koder RL. Protein dynamics govern the oxyferrous state lifetime of an artificial oxygen transport protein. Biophys J. 2023 11 21; 122(22):4440-4450. PMID: 37865818.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Cells
    4. McGuinness KN, Fehon N, Feehan R, Miller M, Mutter AC, Rybak LA, Nam J, AbuSalim JE, Atkinson JT, Heidari H, Losada N, Kim JD, Koder RL, Lu Y, Silberg JJ, Slusky JSG, Falkowski PG, Nanda V. The energetics and evolution of oxidoreductases in deep time. Proteins. 2024 Jan; 92(1):52-59. PMID: 37596815.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    5. Hutchins GH, Noble CEM, Bunzel HA, Williams C, Dubiel P, Yadav SKN, Molinaro PM, Barringer R, Blackburn H, Hardy BJ, Parnell AE, Landau C, Race PR, Oliver TAA, Koder RL, Crump MP, Schaffitzel C, Oliveira ASF, Mulholland AJ, Anderson JLR. An expandable, modular de novo protein platform for precision redox engineering. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 08; 120(31):e2306046120. PMID: 37487099.
      Citations: 2     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    6. Timm J, Pike DH, Mancini JA, Tyryshkin AM, Poudel S, Siess JA, Molinaro PM, McCann JJ, Waldie KM, Koder RL, Falkowski PG, Nanda V. Design of a minimal di-nickel hydrogenase peptide. Sci Adv. 2023 03 10; 9(10):eabq1990. PMID: 36897954.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    
    7. Van Galen CJ, Pauszek RF, Koder RL, Stanley RJ. Flavin Charge Redistribution upon Optical Excitation Is Independent of Solvent Polarity. J Phys Chem B. 2023 Jan 26; 127(3):661-672. PMID: 36649202.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    8. Vidal Ceballos A, D?az A JA, Preston JM, Vairamon C, Shen C, Koder RL, Elbaum-Garfinkle S. Liquid to solid transition of elastin condensates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 09 13; 119(37):e2202240119. PMID: 36067308.
      Citations: 6     Fields:    
    9. Willett E, Jiang V, Koder RL, Banta S. NAD+ Kinase Enzymes Are Reversible, and NAD+ Product Inhibition Is Responsible for the Observed Irreversibility of the Human Enzyme. Biochemistry. 2022 09 06; 61(17):1862-1873. PMID: 35984481.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    10. McCann JJ, Pike DH, Brown MC, Crouse DT, Nanda V, Koder RL. Computational design of a sensitive, selective phase-changing sensor protein for the VX nerve agent. Sci Adv. 2022 Jul 08; 8(27):eabh3421. PMID: 35857443.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    
    11. Andersen EME, Wang H, Khoo JSH, Cerda JF, Koder RL. Oxidation-reduction and photophysical properties of isomeric forms of Safranin. PLoS One. 2022; 17(6):e0265105. PMID: 35749430.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Cells
    12. Satapathy S, Liu B, Deshmukh P, Molinaro PM, Dirnberger F, Khatoniar M, Koder RL, Menon VM. Thermalization of Fluorescent Protein Exciton-Polaritons at Room Temperature. Adv Mater. 2022 Apr; 34(15):e2109107. PMID: 35165941.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    13. Horoszko CP, Schnatz PJ, Budhathoki-Uprety J, Rao-Pothuraju RV, Koder RL, Heller DA. Non-Covalent Coatings on Carbon Nanotubes Mediate Photosensitizer Interactions. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Nov 03; 13(43):51343-51350. PMID: 34672190.
      Citations:    Fields:    
    14. Carvajal MFCA, Preston JM, Jamhawi NM, Sabo TM, Bhattacharya S, Aramini JM, Wittebort RJ, Koder RL. Dynamics in natural and designed elastins and their relation to elastic fiber structure and recoil. Biophys J. 2021 10 19; 120(20):4623-4634. PMID: 34339635.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    15. Schnatz PJ, Brisendine JM, Laing CC, Everson BH, French CA, Molinaro PM, Koder RL. Designing heterotropically activated allosteric conformational switches using supercharging. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 03 10; 117(10):5291-5297. PMID: 32098845.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    16. Greenland KN, Carvajal MFCA, Preston JM, Ekblad S, Dean WL, Chiang JY, Koder RL, Wittebort RJ. Order, Disorder, and Temperature-Driven Compaction in a Designed Elastin Protein. J Phys Chem B. 2018 03 15; 122(10):2725-2736. PMID: 29461832.
      Citations: 9     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    17. Brisendine JM, Refaely-Abramson S, Liu ZF, Cui J, Ng F, Neaton JB, Koder RL, Venkataraman L. Probing Charge Transport through Peptide Bonds. J Phys Chem Lett. 2018 Feb 15; 9(4):763-767. PMID: 29376375.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    18. Pitsawong W, Haynes CA, Koder RL, Rodgers DW, Miller AF. Mechanism-Informed Refinement Reveals Altered Substrate-Binding Mode for Catalytically Competent Nitroreductase. Structure. 2017 07 05; 25(7):978-987.e4. PMID: 28578873.
      Citations: 12     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    19. Gunner MR, Koder R. The design features cells use to build their transmembrane proton gradient. Phys Biol. 2017 02 07; 14(1):013001. PMID: 28169227.
      Citations: 2     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    20. Brisendine JM, Koder RL. Fast, cheap and out of control--Insights into thermodynamic and informatic constraints on natural protein sequences from de novo protein design. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2016 May; 1857(5):485-492. PMID: 26498191.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    21. Mutter AC, Norman JA, Tiedemann MT, Singh S, Sha S, Morsi S, Ahmed I, Stillman MJ, Koder RL. Rational design of a zinc phthalocyanine binding protein. J Struct Biol. 2014 Feb; 185(2):178-85. PMID: 23827257.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    22. Brown MC, Mutter A, Koder RL, JiJi RD, Cooley JW. Observation of persistent a-helical content and discrete types of backbone disorder during a molten globule to ordered peptide transition via deep-UV resonance Raman spectroscopy. J Raman Spectrosc. 2013 Jul; 44(7):957-962. PMID: 27795611.
      Citations:    
    23. Brisendine JM, Mutter AC, Cerda JF, Koder RL. A three-dimensional printed cell for rapid, low-volume spectroelectrochemistry. Anal Biochem. 2013 Aug 01; 439(1):1-3. PMID: 23583818.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    24. Zhang L, Andersen EM, Khajo A, Magliozzo RS, Koder RL. Dynamic factors affecting gaseous ligand binding in an artificial oxygen transport protein. Biochemistry. 2013 Jan 22; 52(3):447-55. PMID: 23249163.
      Citations: 8     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    25. Punnoose A, McConnell LA, McConnell L, Liu W, Mutter AC, Koder RL, Koder R. Fundamental limits on wavelength, efficiency and yield of the charge separation triad. PLoS One. 2012; 7(6):e36065. PMID: 22675467.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    26. Raju G, Capo J, Lichtenstein BR, Cerda JF, Koder RL. Manipulating Reduction Potentials in an Artificial Safranin Cofactor. Tetrahedron Lett. 2012 Mar 07; 53(10):1201-1203. PMID: 23335821.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    
    27. Zhang L, Anderson JL, Ahmed I, Norman JA, Negron C, Mutter AC, Dutton PL, Koder RL. Manipulating cofactor binding thermodynamics in an artificial oxygen transport protein. Biochemistry. 2011 Nov 29; 50(47):10254-61. PMID: 22004125.
      Citations: 17     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    28. Rodriguez-Granillo A, Annavarapu S, Zhang L, Koder RL, Nanda V. Computational design of thermostabilizing D-amino acid substitutions. J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Nov 23; 133(46):18750-9. PMID: 21978298.
      Citations: 17     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    29. Cui D, Koder RL, Dutton PL, Miller AF. 15N solid-state NMR as a probe of flavin H-bonding. J Phys Chem B. 2011 Jun 23; 115(24):7788-98. PMID: 21619002.
      Citations: 6     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    30. Braun P, Goldberg E, Negron C, von Jan M, Xu F, Nanda V, Koder RL, Noy D. Design principles for chlorophyll-binding sites in helical proteins. Proteins. 2011 Feb; 79(2):463-76. PMID: 21117078.
      Citations: 9     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    31. Xu F, Zhang L, Koder RL, Nanda V. De novo self-assembling collagen heterotrimers using explicit positive and negative design. Biochemistry. 2010 Mar 23; 49(11):2307-16. PMID: 20170197.
      Citations: 17     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    32. Nanda V, Koder RL. Designing artificial enzymes by intuition and computation. Nat Chem. 2010 Jan; 2(1):15-24. PMID: 21124375.
      Citations: 68     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    33. Koder RL, Anderson JL, Solomon LA, Reddy KS, Moser CC, Dutton PL. Design and engineering of an O(2) transport protein. Nature. 2009 Mar 19; 458(7236):305-9. PMID: 19295603.
      Citations: 77     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    34. Negron C, Fufezan C, Koder RL. Geometric constraints for porphyrin binding in helical protein binding sites. Proteins. 2009 Feb 01; 74(2):400-16. PMID: 18636480.
      Citations: 13     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    35. Anderson JL, Koder RL, Moser CC, Dutton PL. Controlling complexity and water penetration in functional de novo protein design. Biochem Soc Trans. 2008 Dec; 36(Pt 6):1106-11. PMID: 19021506.
      Citations: 7     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    36. Lichtenstein BR, Cerda JF, Koder RL, Dutton PL. Reversible proton coupled electron transfer in a peptide-incorporated naphthoquinone amino acid. Chem Commun (Camb). 2009 Jan 08; (2):168-70. PMID: 19099057.
      Citations: 6     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    37. Cerda JF, Koder RL, Lichtenstein BR, Moser CM, Miller AF, Dutton PL. Hydrogen bond-free flavin redox properties: managing flavins in extreme aprotic solvents. Org Biomol Chem. 2008 Jun 21; 6(12):2204-12. PMID: 18528583.
      Citations: 4     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    38. Koder RL, Lichtenstein BR, Cerda JF, Miller AF, Dutton PL. A Flavin Analogue with Improved Solubility in Organic Solvents. Tetrahedron Lett. 2007 Jul 30; 48(31):5517-5520. PMID: 19568318.
      Citations: 3     Fields:    
    39. Koder RL, Walsh JD, Pometun MS, Dutton PL, Wittebort RJ, Miller AF. 15N solid-state NMR provides a sensitive probe of oxidized flavin reactive sites. J Am Chem Soc. 2006 Nov 29; 128(47):15200-8. PMID: 17117871.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    40. Koder RL, Valentine KG, Cerda J, Noy D, Smith KM, Wand AJ, Dutton PL. Nativelike structure in designed four alpha-helix bundles driven by buried polar interactions. J Am Chem Soc. 2006 Nov 15; 128(45):14450-1. PMID: 17090015.
      Citations: 19     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    41. Koder RL, Dutton PL. Intelligent design: the de novo engineering of proteins with specified functions. Dalton Trans. 2006 Jul 07; (25):3045-51. PMID: 16786062.
      Citations: 20     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    42. Huang SS, Koder RL, Lewis M, Wand AJ, Dutton PL. The HP-1 maquette: from an apoprotein structure to a structured hemoprotein designed to promote redox-coupled proton exchange. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Apr 13; 101(15):5536-41. PMID: 15056758.
      Citations: 30     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    43. Discher BM, Koder RL, Moser CC, Dutton PL. Hydrophilic to amphiphilic design in redox protein maquettes. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2003 Dec; 7(6):741-8. PMID: 14644184.
      Citations: 20     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    44. Koder RL, Haynes CA, Rodgers ME, Rodgers DW, Miller AF. Flavin thermodynamics explain the oxygen insensitivity of enteric nitroreductases. Biochemistry. 2002 Dec 03; 41(48):14197-205. PMID: 12450383.
      Citations: 27     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    45. Nivinskas H, Staskeviciene S, Sarlauskas J, Koder RL, Miller AF, Cenas N. Two-electron reduction of quinones by Enterobacter cloacae NAD(P)H:nitroreductase: quantitative structure-activity relationships. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2002 Jul 15; 403(2):249-58. PMID: 12139974.
      Citations: 10     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    46. Haynes CA, Koder RL, Miller AF, Rodgers DW. Structures of nitroreductase in three states: effects of inhibitor binding and reduction. J Biol Chem. 2002 Mar 29; 277(13):11513-20. PMID: 11805110.
      Citations: 37     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    47. Koder RL, Oyedele O, Miller AF. Retro-nitroreductase, a putative evolutionary precursor to Enterobacter cloacae strain 96-3 nitroreductase. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2001 Oct; 3(5):747-55. PMID: 11761325.
      Citations: 1     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    48. Nivinskas H, Koder RL, Anusevicius Z, Sarlauskas J, Miller AF, Cenas N. Quantitative structure-activity relationships in two-electron reduction of nitroaromatic compounds by Enterobacter cloacae NAD(P)H:nitroreductase. Arch Biochem Biophys. 2001 Jan 01; 385(1):170-8. PMID: 11361014.
      Citations: 14     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    49. Schwartz AL, Yikilmaz E, Vance CK, Vathyam S, Koder RL, Miller AF. Mutational and spectroscopic studies of the significance of the active site glutamine to metal ion specificity in superoxide dismutase. J Inorg Biochem. 2000 Jul 01; 80(3-4):247-56. PMID: 11001096.
      Citations: 14     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    50. Nivinskas H, Koder RL, Anusevicius Z, Sarlauskas J, Miller AF, Cenas N. Two-electron reduction of nitroaromatic compounds by Enterobacter cloacae NAD(P)H nitroreductase: description of quantitative structure-activity relationships. Acta Biochim Pol. 2000; 47(4):941-9. PMID: 11996117.
      Citations: 2     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    51. Koder RL, Miller AF. Steady-state kinetic mechanism, stereospecificity, substrate and inhibitor specificity of Enterobacter cloacae nitroreductase. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998 Sep 08; 1387(1-2):395-405. PMID: 9748656.
      Citations: 30     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    52. Koder RL, Miller AF. Overexpression, isotopic labeling, and spectral characterization of Enterobacter cloacae nitroreductase. Protein Expr Purif. 1998 Jun; 13(1):53-60. PMID: 9631515.
      Citations: 5     Fields:    Translation:Cells
    53. Beecher BS, Koder RL, Tipton PA. Tartrate dehydrogenase-oxalate complexes: formation of a stable analog of a reaction intermediate complex. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1994 Dec; 315(2):255-61. PMID: 7986065.
      Citations:    Fields:    Translation:Cells
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