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Home / Faculty & Staff / Jay Ponder

Jay Ponder

Jay Ponder

Professor, Department of Chemistry
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Department of Biomedical Engineering (School of Engineering)
Degrees: 
Postdoctoral Fellow, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University
Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, Harvard University
B.A., Math and Chemistry, Wabash College
CV: 
PDF icon CV-ponder.pdf
E-mail: 
ponder@dasher.wustl.edu
Phone: 
314-935-4275
Fax: 
314-935-4481
Office: 
Louderman 453
Mailbox: 

Campus Box 1134

Website: 
Laboratory Web Site

Research Interests

Computational Chemistry,Molecular Mechanics; Molecular Dynamics Simulations,Development of Next-Generation Force Fields; Algorithms for Conformational Search;Prediction of Small Molecule Crystal Structures;Homology & ab Initio Models of Protein Structures.

The Ponder group develops and applies computational tools for problems in structural biology and in protein engineering, function and folding. The Ponder Lab produces and distributes software packages ranging from macromolecular mechanics and dynamics simulation (TINKER) to molecular visualization (Force Field Explorer) to empirical packing analysis of protein structure (PROPAK) to sequence analysis and tertiary structure prediction (SLEUTH). Our research focuses on prediction and modeling of structural chemistry and the relation of structure to molecular properties.

Our major research area in recent years has concerned implementation of efficient methods for including multipole electrostatics and polarization in simulations as a framework for our next-generation AMOEBA force field. This new energy model enables reliable calculation of structures and has significant advantages over traditional fixed partial atomic charge models such as Amber and CHARMM. It also yields energetics for ligand docking and drug design to within "chemical accuracy"-- absolute errors of 0.5 kcal/mol or less. Current AMOEBA applications include free energy calculations of binding interactions, elucidation of the role of ions in biology, prediction of small molecule crystal structures and refinement of highly accurate protein homology models. Planned future improvements to the AMOEBA model are ligand field splitting terms for transition metals, incorporation of charge transfer and penetration effects, improved treatment of short-range dispersion, and coupling of valence geometry to electrostatics.

In addition, we are exploring various powerful approaches to conformational search for flexible biopolymers. One method transforms the potential energy surface for a molecule by a diffusion equation-based smoothing procedure. This "potential smoothing" paradigm is applicable to a variety of problems including transmembrane helix packing, global optimization, and energy-based clustering of conformations. Another search method is based on a novel distance geometry algorithm and heuristic rules as a basis for protein structure prediction. Statistical distance distributions and predicted secondary structure constraints generate libraries of candidate folds to be scored with an informatics-based contact function or physics-based effective mean force potential. Ultimately, our interest in conformational search lies in the "end game" of protein folding--in making a connection between atomic-level protein structures and low-resolution models available from fold recognition algorithms.

Selected Publications

Polarizable Atomic Multipole-based Molecular Mechanics for Organic Molecules, P. Ren, C. Wu and J. W. Ponder, J. Chem. Theory Comput., 7, xxx-xxx (2011)

MSCALE: A General Utility for Multiscale Modeling, H. L. Woodcock, B. T. Miller, M. Hodoscek, A. Okur, J. D. Larkin, J. W. Ponder and B. R. Brooks, J. Chem. Theory Comput., 7, 1208-1219 (2011)

Multipole Electrostatics in Hydration Free Energy Calculations, Y. Shi, C. Wu, J. W. Ponder and P. Ren, J. Chem. Comput., 32, 967-977 (2011)

Current Status of the AMOEBA Polarizable Force Field, J. W. Ponder, C. Wu, P. Ren, V. S. Pande, J. D. Chodera, D. L. Mobley, M. J. Schnieders, I. Haque, D. S. Lambrecht, R. A. DiStasio, Jr., M. Head-Gordon, G. N. I. Clark, M. E. Johnson and T. Head-Gordon, J. Phys. Chem. B, 114, 2549-2564 (2010)

Polarizable Atomic Multipole Solutes in a Generalized Kirkwood Continuum, M. J. Schnieders and J. W. Ponder, J. Chem. Theory Comput., 3, 2083-2097 (2007)

Polarizable Atomic Multipole Solutes in a Poisson-Boltzmann Continuum, M. J. Schnieders, N. A. Baker, P. Ren and J. W. Ponder, J. Chem. Phys., 126, 124114 (2007)

Force Field Modeling of Conformational Energies: Importance of Multipole Moments and Intramolecular Polarization, T. D. Rasmussen, P. Ren, J. W. Ponder and F. Jensen, Int. J. Quantum Chem., 107, 1390-1395 (2007)

Temperature and Pressure Dependence of the AMOEBA Water Model, P. Ren and J. W. Ponder, J. Phys. Chem. B, 108, 13427-13437 (2004)

Ion Solvation Thermodynamics from Simulation with a Polarizable Force Field, A. Grossfield, P. Ren and J. W. Ponder, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 125, 15671-15682 (2003)

Force Fields for Protein Simulation, J. W. Ponder and D. A. Case, Adv. Prot. Chem., 66, 27-85 (2003)

Polarizable Atomic Multipole Water Model for Molecular Mechanics Simulation, P. Ren and J. W. Ponder, J. Phys. Chem. B, 107, 5933-5947 (2003)

A Consistent Treatment of Inter- and Intramolecular Polarization in Molecular Mechanics Calculations, P. Ren and J. W. Ponder, J. Comput. Chem., 23, 1497-1506 (2002)

Appointments

2011-present, Associate Professor, Chemistry, Washington University
1999-2011, Associate Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine
1990-1999, Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine
1989-1990, Assistant Instructor, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University
1985-1989, Postdoctoral Associate, Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University
1984-1985, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Rice University

Awards

Gordon Research Conference on Computational Chemistry, Chairman-Elect
Numerate, Brisbane, CA, Scientific Advisory Board, 2006-present
Pharmix, Brisbane, CA, Scientific Advisory Board, 2004-2006
Algodign LLC, Moscow, Russia, Scientific Advisory Board, 2002-2004
Protein Mechanics, Mountain View, CA, Scientific Advisory Board, 2002-2004
CambridgeSoft.com, Cambridge, MA, Scientific Advisory Board, 1990-2006
FASEB
Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design, Editorial Board, 1993-1999
Protein Society
American Association for the Advancement of Science
NIH NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1986-1988
Harvard-Danforth Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1981-1984
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, 1978-1981
Phi Beta Kappa
Sigma Xi
American Chemical Society

Courses

CHEM 261:  Organic Chemistry I
CHEM 454:  Molecular Modeling
CHEM 5357:  Chemistry & Physics of Biomolecules

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Department of Chemistry | (314) 935-6530 | chemistry@wustl.edu
Washington University in St. Louis | Campus Box 1134 | One Brookings Drive | St. Louis, MO 63130-4899