News item posted on 2015-06-11

CSB Research Spotlight - Jens Meiler

James Crowe Jr., Ph.D., and CSB Researcher and Chancellor Faculty Fellow Jens Meiler, Ph.D., recently reported findings in the Journal of Clinical Investigation which suggest that computer-redesigned antibodies may speed the search for an effective therapy or vaccine for a virus that so far has eluded all attempts to eradicate it. With the help of a computer program called “Rosetta,” the researchers have “redesigned” an antibody that has increased potency and can neutralize more strains of the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) than can any known natural antibody. Visit Research News@Vanderbilt for the full story.

The researchers have also received a five-year, $9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to design more effective flu vaccines and novel antibody therapies. The Vanderbilt researchers, in collaboration with scientists from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, are using a computer program named “Rosetta,” which predicts protein structure from the amino acid sequence. Their goal is to design antibodies that hone in on influenza’s “Achilles’ heel.” For more information, read the full article in the VUMC Reporter.

Author: Stephen M. Doster