College of Medicine

Mapping the molecular features of antibodies and T cell immune responses has remained a challenge for many years, partly due to the high genetic diversity that is encoded by immune receptors from millions of single immune cells. For antibodies, sequencing and discovery technologies have made rapid progress against targets like soluble ectodomains, but discovery remains difficult against proteins like diverse/broad viral families, disordered proteins, and membrane proteins, delaying new antibody drugs and vaccine development. Similarly, mapping T cell receptor (TCR) function is extremely difficult due to the vast numbers of possible peptide:MHC antigens, but is critical for vaccine designs and T cell-based therapeutics. This presentation will share recent case studies and unpublished data for antibody and TCR screening against difficult targets, including to discover antibodies against infectious disease antigens.