Community Newsletter
October 2026 - 25th Edition
Catch-Up With Jeff
Where in the world did Jeff visit? Keep reading to find out!
The first RosettaCon Asia was amazing! Organized by Chu Wang and Peilong Lu, there were 26 speakers over two days with an often standing-room-only crowd. There were familiar faces - Longxing Cao is using physics and AI for binder design, and Zibo Chen is driving toward synthetic cells. Minkyung Baek has new guided flow models for antibody design, and Hahnbeom Park shared the latest for his heads-up-display design tool that allows you to craft new structures with your hands in augmented reality. Jiayi Dou (with a recently established lab) has a new all-atom generative model for ligand binding for neuroscience applications. And I met several new friends, such as Wen-Bin Zhang, who designed clever sequences with inteins to yield complex topologies like knots and olympic rings, and Yuda Chen, fresh out of his postdoc with Bill DeGrado, building his own lab with clever enzymes and fluorescent constructs. Very much in the spirit of RosettaCon history, the meeting ended with continued networking and scientific discussion on a spectacular hike on The Great Wall of China.
I was also invited to a History and Culture of Science and Technology class at Peking University, where I shared our journey creating and growing the Rosetta Commons, emphasizing how our collaborative code and active community building fueled our scientific progress through a Nobel Prize and beyond. Chu Wang and Possu Huang joined me for a multi-lingual panel discussion with the course organizer (my phone translator mostly kept up).
Also, this month was the 2nd Symposium on Protein Design and Engineering conference at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, Brazil. Organized by Helder Ribeiro, our member spotlight this month, with fellow researchers in Brazil, events like this annual gathering are vital for driving computational protein design forward across South America, bridging local talent with the global scientific community.
Cheers,
Jeff
Latest News
RFD4-Proteina Improves Computational Protein Design through Open Science and Collaboration
Collaboration across the biomolecular modeling and design community continues to drive scientific advancements and discoveries. The development of RDF4-Proteina highlights this process in action.
Introducing makeshift: Bringing Biomolecular NMR and Dynamics Analysis into Python
Introducing makeshift, an open-source Python package that unifies NMR data retrieval, curation, and dynamics analysis to support scalable protein modeling.
High-Throughput Protein Purification: From Linear DNA to Pure Protein in Three Days
Researchers developed a high-throughput protein purification process that bypasses unnecessary intermediate steps and integrates the process into a continuous workflow enabling a complete end-to-end DNA-to-protein production cycle in three days.
Upcoming Events
Keystone Symposia - Winter RosettaCon 2027
Registration Now Open
Topic: Computational Design and Modeling of Biomolecules
Dates: March 29 - April 1, 2027
Location: La Fonda on the Plaza, Santa Fe, NM
European RosettaCon 2026
Registration Closed
Topic: Crossing Boundaries in Protein Design
Dates: October 28 - 30, 2026
Location: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Membership Spotlight
Helder Ribeiro, Ph.D.
Lead Researcher, Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM)
Organizer for the 2nd Symposium on Protein Design and Engineering
Scientific Endeavors
Helder’s lab explores immune recognition from multiple perspectives, ranging from predicting T-cell receptor (TCR) specificity and cross-reactivity to designing novel immune modulators. In one of his recent studies, the group developed a computational tool that can help investigate TCR cross-reactivity and guide the design of specific immune modulators. The lab has also recently established experimental capabilities to validate computational predictions and designs. Beyond research, the group is actively involved in scientific education and outreach, organizing symposia, workshops, and other activities to promote knowledge sharing and community engagement.
“Don't underestimate what your own perspective can bring to the community, and don't be afraid to share your ideas.”
About Helder
Helder earned his bachelor's degree in Pharmacy and master's degree in Pharmacology from the Federal University of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil, where he grew up. After working in classical pharmacology, he pursued a Ph.D. in Computational Biology at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in southeastern Brazil. Then, he joined the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio) at CNPEM as an Assistant Researcher in Computational Biology, before he conducted postdoctoral research in Brian Pierce's lab at the University of Maryland, where he became more deeply involved with the Rosetta community. His research focused on developing deep learning methods for predicting and designing immune recognition, particularly T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition. In 2024, following his postdoctoral research, Helder received an important research grant from the Instituto Serrapilheira in Brazil, which enabled him to establish his own research group at LNBio/CNPEM. He also officially joined Rosetta Commons, contributing to efforts to expand the community and promote the use of Rosetta in Brazil and South America. In his free time, Helder loves traveling, exploring different cultures, and when there is good wind conditions, kitesurfing, one of his favorite sports.
"The community’s energy has been sustained across generations, inspiring scientists to keep pushing the boundaries of science.”
Rosetta Community
As a relatively new member to the community, Helder noted that what he enjoys most, and what continues to impress him, is the constant exchange of scientific enthusiasm and ideas between students and PIs. Learn more about the symposium Helder organized below.
Announcements
Rosetta Commons Tutorials
Explore the latest collection of written and video tutorials from the Rosetta Commons team and community. Designed as resources for reseearchers at all levels, learn about workflows, AI integration, and biomolecular modeling and design basics and beyond.
Rosetta Commons Jobs
Check out our jobs board for the latest postings.
Newsletter Archive
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