Publications

Research Papers – Peer Reviewed

  1. Hestekin CN, Hestekin JA, Paracha S, Morrison G, Pakkaner E, Moore J, Santos de Souza L, Stephens S, Atchley C, Kurtz I. Simulating nephron ion transport function using activated wafer electrodeionization. Commun. Mater. 1(29), 2020. 
  2. Zhekova HR, Pushkin A, Kayık G, Kao L, Azimov R, Abuladze N, Kurtz D, Damergi M, Noskov S, Kurtz I. Identification of Multiple Substrate Binding Sites in SLC4 Transporters in the Outward-Facing Conformations: Insights into the Transport Mechanism, J. Biol. Chem. 296:100724, 2021.
  3. Wang W, Tsirulnikov K, Zhekova HR, Kayik G, Khan HM, Azimov R, Abuladze N, Kao L, Newman D, Noskov SY, Zhou ZH, Pushkin A, Kurtz I. Cryo-EM Structure of the Sodium-Driven Chloride/Bicarbonate Exchanger NDCBE. Nat. Commun. 12:5690, 2021.
  4. Zhekova HR, Jiang J, Wang W, Tsirulnikov K, Kayık G, Khan HM, Azimov R, Abuladze N, Kao L, Newman D, Noskov SY, Tieleman DP, Zhou ZH, Pushkin A, Kurtz I. CryoEM Structures of Anion Exchanger 1 Capture Multiple States of Inward and Outward Facing Conformation. Commun. Biol. 5(1):1372, 2022.
  5. Kraut JA, Cheetham-Wilkinson IJ, Swan LE, Stagi M, Kurtz I. Impact of  Various Buffers and Weak Bases on Lysosomal and Intracellular pH:  Implications  for Infectivity  of SARS-CoV-2. FASEB Bioadv. 5(4):149-155, 2023.                 
  6. Hestekin CN, Pakkaner E, Hestekin JA, De Souza LS, Chowdhury PP, Marcal JL, Moore J, Hesse SA, Takacs CJ, Tassone CJ, Dachavaram SS, Crooks PA, Williams K, Kurtz I. High Flux Novel Polymeric Membrane for Renal Applications. Sci. Rep. 13:11703, 2023
  7. Wu S, Koo M, Blum L, Black A, Kao L, Zhe F, Scalzo F, Kurtz I. Benchmarking Open-Source Large Language Models, GPT-4 and Claude 2 on Multiple-Choice Questions in Nephrology. N. Engl. J. Med. AI. 1(2), 2024. 
  8. Zhekova HR, Ramirez Echemendía DP, Sejdiu BI, Pushkin A, Tieleman DP, Kurtz I. Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Lipid-Protein Interactions in SLC4 Proteins. Biophys. J.  123(12):1705-1721, 2024
  9. Zamanzadeh D, Feng J, Petousis P, Vepa A, Sarrafzadeh M, Karumanchi SA, Bui AAT, Kurtz I. Data-driven Prediction of Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy Survival. Nat. Commun. 15:5440, 2024.
  10. Pushkin A, Kao L Zhekova HR, Azimove R, Abuladze N, Shao XM, Tieleman DP, Kurtz I. On the Substrate Turnover Rate of NBCe1 and AE1 SLC4 Transporters: Structure-Function Considerations. Front. Physiol. 15:1474628, 2025.  doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1474628.
  11. Catalán M, Flores-Aldama L, Fernandez F, Bustos B, Apablaza N, Hidalgo A, Mazola Y, Matamala E, Kao L, Kurtz I, Spichiger C, Sarmiento L, Brauchi S, Gonzalez W,  Zuñiga L, Peña-Munzenmayer G. Molecular determinants of HCO3- and cation transport in the human cation-dependent Cl-/HCO3- exchanger AE4. Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiol) 328: C2070–C208, 2025.
  12. Duncan H, Newton C, Hestekin J, Hestekin C, Kurtz I. Exploring Nanofiltration for Transport of Small Molecular Species Related to the Treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease. Membranes. 15(6), 168, 2025.
  13. Wu S, Koo M, Kao LY, Black A, Blum L, Scalzo F, Kurtz I. Adversarial Databases Improve Success in Retrieval-based Large Language Models. arXiv.org, 2407(14609), 2024.
  14. Wu S, Koo M, Scalzo F, Kurtz I. AutoMed Prompt: A New Framework for Optimizing LLM Medical Prompts Using Textual Gradients. arXiv:2502.15944, 2025.