Faculty Sponsor: Erika A. Taylor
Live Poster Session: Zoom Link Goes Here
Robinson Ohm
Robinson is a rising sophomore from Maryland. He majors in MB&B and works in the Taylor lab, where he researches drug targets. He’s involved in the Christian Fellowship and looks forward to studying abroad in Kenya. After graduating, Robinson plans to attend medical school.
Abstract: Aminoglycosides are historically understood to inhibit essential bacterial functions by binding the ribosome, but our lab’s evidence of an alternative protein target warrants broader screening across the Escherichia coli proteome. This study evaluated a proteome-wide docking pipeline for consistency and biological accuracy by testing its ability to distinguish six aminoglycosides from matched enantiomer decoys and reproduce experimentally-known ligand-binding behavior. General validation of real ligands and decoys revealed similar docking scores, and receiver operating characteristic analysis yielded an AUC of 0.501, indicating near-random discrimination. Focused validation using Heptosyltransferase I (HepI) showed a partial recovery of a native ligand pose, with an overall RMSD of 2.89 Ã… that exceeds the 2.0 Ã… redocking benchmark. Comparisons between various HepI structures also revealed that blind docking could mistakenly favor alternative pockets or crystal-packing interfaces. These results demonstrate that docking scores alone are not reliable for hit discovery. We developed a refined workflow that improves decoy controls, incorporates site-specific docking, and prioiritizes biologically relevant assemblies.
Final_QAC_Summer26_Poster