During these 2 years of project, various results were obtained and disseminated.
I proposed a new hot-spot predictor for protein-protein complexes that outperforms any predictor propose to date (Melo et al., IJMS, 2016; Moreira et al., Sci Reports 2017). This new predictor was implemented at a web-server (
https://milou.science.uu.nl/(se abrirá en una nueva ventana) services/SPOTON) that already counts more than 140 users and 5923 runs since its publication. Through a big-data approach I provided also insights into PPIs chemical, physical and structural properties, which was assembled in a new web-platform.
Our proposed ground-breaking protocols were made (and will be made) freely available to the scientific community through my source control repositories (e.g. GitHub). Our user-centric web applications and software pipeline are also open to any interested party upon request. Besides publication in specialized renowned scientific journals (6 peer-reviewed SCI-indexed publications with 3 more in submission and 5 more in preparation), publication of 3 book chapters and 7 conference procedings, as well as 3 web-servers/platforms, dissemination activities also involved editorial activities of two special issues: i) “GPCR Mechanism and Drug Design” for Molecules Journal and ii) “Modulation of protein-protein Interactions for Development of Effective Therapeutics – from a Joint Perspective of Experiment and Computation” for Current Topics of Medicinal Chemistry. I had personally continued to organize EJIBCE - “Encontro de Jovens Investigadores de Biologia Computacional e Estrutural”, a Portuguese national meeting whose principal objective is to foster collaboration in computational bioinformatics and is especially directed towards younger generations of researchers and their interaction with established and renowned field experts. Apart from the meeting’s merits, I had also pursued this communication channel as another avenue to advertise our project to the broader scientific community. A few conference proceedings were published under these initiative at MOL2NET-03 International Conference Series on Multidisciplinary Sciences. I had also attended other major international scientific conferences/meetings/workshops (e.g. Biophysical Meeting, EMBO workshop) as an invited speaker. Such events provided opportunities for consulting with renowned experts face-to-face. I had continued to interact with the general public through web and social media presence (e.g. LinkedIn, Researchgate, Twitter etc.), and our up-to-date of personal website. I have also supervised master, PhD and Postdoctoral researchers, gave 3 workshops and lectures at 2 Master and 1 PhD programs, sucessufly applied to 3 grants calls and reviewed manuscripts for a variety of journals.
