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     Maria C. Nagan

 Associate Professor

B.A. 1997, Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA)
Ph.D. 2001, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities

433 Chemistry
Phone: (631)-632-5793
Email: maria.nagan@stonybrook.edu  

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  • Research Description

    The Nagan lab employs computational methods to understand how chemical functional groups affect RNA  structure and recognition. 

    Visit The Nagan Group Website

    REsearch Leadership

    Amber Molecular Dynamics Software 

  • Selected Publications

    1. D.A. Case, D.S. Cerutti, V.W.D. Cruzeiro, T.A. Darden, R.E. Duke, M. Ghazimirsaeed, G.M. Giambasu, T.J. Giese, A.W. Götz, J.A. Harris, K. Kasavajhala, T. Lee, Z. Li, C. Lin, J. Liu, Y. Miao, R. Salomon-Ferrrer, J. Shen, R. Snyder, J. Swails, R.C. Walker, J. Wang, X. Wu, J. Zeng, T.E. Cheatham, III, D.R. Roe, A. Roitberg, C. Simmerling, D.M. York, M.C. Nagan*, K.M. Merz*, Jr. Recent Developments in Amber Biomolecular Simulations. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2025, 65, 7835-7843, doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.5c01063.

    2. Raguette, L.E., Gunasekera, S.S., Ventura Diaz, R.I., Aminov, E., Linzer, J.T., Parwana, D., Wu, Q., Simmerling, C. and  Nagan*, M.C. “Adjusting the energy profile for CH–O interactions leads to improved stability of RNA stem-loop structures in MD simulations” J. Phys. Chem. B, 2024, 128, 7921-7933, doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.4c01910.

    3. Linzer, J.T., Aminov, E.,Abdullah, A.S., Kirkup, C., Bijoor, V. R.Chong, J., Ventura Diaz, R.I., Grodzki, A.C., Haines, E.R.,Huang, S.Iyer, A.S., Khalil, M.K., Leong, A. P.Neuhaus, M. A., Onghai, H.P., Park, J., Tse, C.G., Álvarez Toucet, E.,Xie, M., Ziembicki, J. M., Simmerling, C. and Nagan*, M.C. “Accurately Folding RNA Stem-Loops in Implicit Solvent” J. Chem. Inf. Model, 2024, 64, 6092-6104, doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00756.

    4. Hasan Metin Aktulga, Kellon Belfon, David S. Cerutti,Gerardo Andrés Cisneros, Vinícius Wilian D. Cruzeiro, Negin Forouzesh, Timothy J. Giese, Andreas W. Goëtz, Holger Gohlke, Saeed Izadi, Koushik Kasavajhala Mehmet C. Kaymak, Edward King, Tom Kurtzman, Tai-Sung Lee, Pengfei Li, Jian Liu, Tyler Luchko, Ray Luo, Madushanka Manathunga, Matias R. Machado, Hai Minh Nguyen, Kurt A. O’Hearn, Alexey Onufriev, Feng Pan, Sergio Pantano,Ruxi Qi, Ali Rahnamoun, Ali Risheh, Stephan Schott-Verdugo, Akhil Shajan,s Jason Swails, Junmei Wang, Haixin Wei, Xiongwu Wu, Yongxian Wu, Shi Zhang, Shiji Zhao,Qiang Zhu, Daniel R. Roe, , Darrin M. York, David A Case, Thomas E. Cheatham, III, Adrian Roitberg,C.L. Simmerling, Maria C. Nagan* and Kenneth M. Merz, Jr.*, AmberTools23, J. Chem. Inf. Model, 2023, 63, 6183-6191, doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.3c01153.

    5. Anderson, K., Arradondo, S., Ball, K.A., Bruce, C., Gomez, M.A., He, K., Hendrickson, H., Madison, L., Ringer McDonald, A., Nagan, M.C., Scott, C.E., Soto, P., Tomlinson, A., Varner, M. and Parish*, C. “The Impacts of the Molecular Education and Research Consortium in Undergraduate Computational Chemistry on the Careers of Women in Computational Chemistry” J. Chem. Inf. Model, 2022,62, 6316-6322,  doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.2c00566.

    6. Maddula, V.,  Holtzman, N. S., Nagan*, M.C. and Rotenberg*, S. A. “Computational Studies of the α/ß-Tubulin Heterodimeric Interface in Microtubules: The Impact of Phosphorylation of Ser165 in α-Tubulin” Biochemistry, 2022, 61, 1508-1516. Supplemental Cover. doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.2c00154.

    7. Nagan*, M.C. “Using a Lab Wiki for Longevity and Knowledge Transfer in Undergraduate Research” International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, 2020,120, e26262. doi.org/10.1002/qua.26262.

    8. Palermo, G.; Armacost, K.A. and Nagan, M.C. “Women Make COMP: Mentoring the Next Generation of Women in Computational Chemistry” J. Chem. Inf. Model, 2019, 59, 4061-4062, doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.9b00643.

    9. Witts, R.N.;Hopson, E.C.; Koballa, D.E.; Van Boening, T.A.; Hopkins, N.H.; Patterson, E.V. and Nagan, M.C. “Backbone-Base Interactions Critical to Quantum Stabilization of Transfer RNA Anticodon Structure” J. Phys. Chem. B, 2013, 117, 7489-7497, doi.org/10.1021/jp400084p.

    10. Michael, L.A.; Chenault, J.A.; Miller III, B.R.; Knolhoff, A.M. and Nagan, M.C. “Water, Shape-Recognition, Salt Bridges and Pi-Cation Interactions Differentiate Peptide Recognition of the HIV Rev-Responsive Element” J. Mol. Biol.  2009, 392, 774-786,  doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2009.07.047.

    11. McCrate, N.E.; Varner, M.E.; Kim, K.I. and Nagan, M.C. “Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Human tRNALys,3UUU: The Role of Modified Bases in mRNA Recognition” Nucleic Acids Res. 2006, 34, 5361-5368,  doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkl580.

  • Honors & Awards
    • Fellow of the American Chemical Society
    • Godfrey Excellence in Teaching Award
    • McNair Mentor Hall of Fame
    • Walker and Doris Allen Fellowship for Faculty Excellence
  • Positions

    Amber MD Software Development (2020-present), Chemistry Education Committee Chair (2019-present),  College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Curriculum (2022-2024; Interim 2021), ACS COMP Co-chair Programming (2021-2023), Mercury Executive Committee (2020-2023), ACS COMP Division Chair (Leadership rotation 2016-2018), Adelphi University Chemistry Department Chair (2013-2016), Truman State University Director Office of Student Research (2011-2013)