Walter Alvarado

Email: Walter.Alvarado@nasa.gov

Affiliation: Space Biosciences Research Branch

Biography

2023-Present: Scientist, Space Biosciences Research Branch, NASA Ames Research Center
2020-2023: Pathways Intern, Engineering Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center

Education

2023: Ph.D. Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago

2017: M.S. Physics, California State University, Long Beach

2012: B.S. Physics, California State University, Long Beach

Research Interests

Dr. Alvarado is a biophysicist in the Space Biosciences Research Branch at NASA Ames Research Center. His research experience involves designing machine learning models based on physical models to study complex biological mechanisms. His current research interest is focused on identifying biomarkers indicative of space radiation exposure, aiming to improve real-time health monitoring and develop protective strategies for astronauts on deep-space missions.

Dr. Alvarado also serves as a Data Scientist to both the Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) and the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC). In these roles, he applies his machine learning expertise to improve the data curation process, helping to increase access to and understanding of important space biology data.

Publications

• D. K. Buckner, M. J. Anderson, S. Wisnosky, W. Alvarado, M. Nuevo, A. J. Williams, A. J. Ricco, Anamika, S. Debic, L. Friend, T. Hoac, L. Jahnke, L. Radosevich, R. Williams, M. B. Wilhelm. (2024). Quantifying Global Origin-Diagnostic Features and Patterns in Biotic and Abiotic Acyclic Lipids for Life Detection. Astrobiology, 24(1), 1-35.
• W Grubbe, F. Byléhn, W. Alvarado, J. De Pablo, J. Mendoza. (2023). Molecular analysis of the type III interferon complex and its applications in protein engineering. Biophysical Journal, 122(21), 4254-4263.
• C. A. Menendez, A. Mohamed, W. Alvarado, G. R. Perez-Lemus, A. M. Weiss, B. W. Rawe, et al. (2023). Development of Masitinib Derivatives with Enhanced Mpro Ligand Efficiency and Reduced Cytotoxicity. Molecules, 28(18), 6643.
• W. Alvarado, V. Agrawal, W. S. Li, V. P. Dravid, V. Backman, J. J. de Pablo, A. Ferguson. (2023). Denoising Autoencoder Trained on Simulation-Derived Structures for Noise Reduction in Chromatin Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy. ACS Central Science, 9, 6, 1200–1212
• G. R. Perez-Lemus, C. A. Menéndez, W. Alvarado, F. Byléhn, J. J. de Pablo. (2022). Toward wide-spectrum antivirals against coronaviruses: Molecular characterization of SARS-CoV-2 NSP13 helicase inhibitors. Science Advances, 8(1), eabj4526.
• W. Alvarado, G. R. Perez-Lemus, C. A. Menéndez, F. Byléhn, J. J. de Pablo. (2022). Molecular characterization of COVID-19 therapeutics: luteolin as an allosteric modulator of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, 7(1), 58-66.
• W. Alvarado, J. Moller, A. Ferguson, J. J. de Pablo. (2021). Tetranucleosome interactions drive chromatin folding. ACS Central Science, 7(6), 1019-1027.
• F. Bylehn, C. A. Menendez, G. R. Perez-Lemus, W. Alvarado, J. J. De Pablo. (2021). Modeling the binding mechanism of remdesivir, favilavir, and ribavirin to SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. ACS Central Science, 7(1), 164-174.
• C. A. Menéndez, F. Byléhn, G. R. Perez-Lemus, W. Alvarado, J. J. de Pablo. (2020). Molecular characterization of ebselen binding activity to SARS-CoV-2 main protease. Science Advances, 6(37), eabd0345.
• P. L. Bremer, D. De Boer, W. Alvarado, X. Martinez, E. J. Sorin. (2020). Overcoming the heuristic nature of k-means clustering: identification and characterization of binding modes from simulations of molecular recognition complexes. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 60(6), 3081-3092.
• W. Alvarado, P. L. Bremer, A. Choy, H. N. Dinh, A. Eung, J. Gonzalez, P. Ly, T. Tran, K. Nakayama, J. P. Schwans, E. J. Sorin. (2020). Understanding the enzyme–ligand complex: insights from all-atom simulations of butyrylcholinesterase inhibition. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, 38(4), 1028-1041.
• K. Nakayama, J. P. Schwans, E. J. Sorin, T. Tran, J. Gonzalez, E. Arteaga, S. McCoy, W. Alvarado. (2017). Synthesis, biochemical evaluation, and molecular modeling studies of aryl and arylalkyl di-n-butyl phosphates, effective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 25(12), 3171-3181.
• E. J. Sorin, W. Alvarado, S. Cao, A. Radcliffe, P. La, Y. An. (2017). Ensemble molecular dynamics of a protein-ligand complex: Residual inhibitor entropy enhances drug potency in butyrylcholinesterase. Bioenergetics: Open Access, 6(1).