Multifunctional antibody-derived receptor agonists for targeted immunomodulation
Stefan Zielonka.
Executive Director at Merck Healthcare KGaA (EMD Serono), Germany. Professor of Biomolecular Immunotherapy at Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
Single domain antibodies (sdAbs) are versatile building blocks for the design of bi- and multifunctional antibody architectures. In this talk, I will present strategies to engineer sdAb-based antibodies that selectively agonize cytokine receptors. I will give examples on several different bi- and multispecifics that ‘mimic’ the function of given cytokines in the tumor as well as autoimmune context and will provide mechanistic insights for the generation of such entities.
De-novo design of immune-focused protein nanoparticles
Sai Sundar Rajan Raghavan
Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, he Novo Nordisk Foundation Initiative for Vaccines and Immunity (NIVI) Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Protein nanoparticles are powerful vaccine platforms for multivalent antigen display, but conventional designs can suffer from antigen flexibility, variable epitope orientation, and unwanted antibody responses against the scaffold. CryoEM-assisted AI/ML protein design offers a route to engineer nanoparticles with defined geometry, controlled antigen placement, and fixed presentation of small antigens or protective epitopes. By integrating high-resolution structural information with computational scaffold design, sequence optimization, and assembly modeling, epitopes can be displayed in repetitive orientations that improve B-cell receptor engagement and focus antibody responses toward desired antigenic sites. At the same time, nanoparticle surfaces can be redesigned to reduce exposure of non-essential scaffold regions, helping limit off-target anti-carrier immunity. This approach provides a structure-guided strategy for developing next-generation nanoparticle vaccines that enhance epitope-specific responses while minimizing non-specific responses to the nanoparticle itself.
The lecturers are visiting Oslo as opponents of Anette Kolderup's PhD defence June 22.