Postdoc fellow in antibody biology & microbiology

Background

Due to antibiotic resistance, there is now great interest in the development of antibody-based therapies against bacterial infections, for instance via antibodies that boost the host immune system. To kill bacteria, antibodies should trigger activation of the complement cascade, which forms bactericidal Membrane Attack Complex (MAC) pores and strongly enhances phagocytosis. Although the power of complement could be exploited for antibody therapies, such developments are hampered by our limited insights into the mechanisms underlying antibody-dependent complement activation on bacteria. In this proposal, we will combine our function-driven approaches with B cell sequencing methods to identify antibodies against pathogenic E. coli strains with strong complement-activating potential.

The postdoctoral fellow will be tasked to set-up and perform yeast Fab display screening in my lab. He/she will travel to Boston (2 months) to get familiar with yeast display technologies in the laboratory of Dr. Brandon DeKosky, who developed a yeast display platform for large-scale interrogation of natively paired VH:VL antibody repertoires. In Utrecht, the postdoc will be tasked to generate yeast libraries from paired VH:VL amplicons (derived from B cells of patients infected with E. coli) by cloning and expression into Ig yeast display vectors. Postdoc will develop methods to select yeast cells that display bacterium specific antibodies using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Sorted yeast populations will be characterized by next generation sequencing, and sequences will be mined to select interesting clones. Postdoc will develop transposon screening methods to identify bacterial antibody targets.

Responsibilities

• Drive and develop scientific projects focused on antibody discovery using yeast display
• Transfer yeast display technology from the lab of Dr. Brandon DeKosky to Utrecht
• Generate yeast Fab display libraries from B cells of infected patients
• Perform and optimize yeast display screening (FACS)
• Analyse next generation sequencing datasets
• Identify bacterial antibody targets using transposon mutagenesis
• Collaborate with other scientists (PhD students and technicians).