29/05/2026
Together with IgA-enthusiast Jeanette Leusen, I had the pleasure co-chairing a session on antibody biology and engineering at Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics in Basel. Context; over the past decades, engineering strategies have evolved into a central pillar of biologic drug design, influencing PK, effector functions, receptor signaling, manufacturability and so on. As such, advances in structural biology, computational modeling, synthetic biology as well as systems immunology are enabling precise control over antibody-mediated functions that expand the possibilities of designing antibody-based medicines. A big thank you to the invited speakers.
Randall Brezski (Director of Business Intelligence and Engagement,The Antibody Society) gave an overview of Fc engineering strategies from a historical perspective with pitfalls and promises. Edward Irvine, PhD (ETH Zürich, Sai Reddy Group) followed up and presented a computational strategy to generate panels of Fc variants with selective effector molecule binding profiles. Next out was Mark Cragg (University of Southampton) showing how hinge engineering can dramatically enhance agonism.
After the break, Thomas Kraft (Roche) elegantly guided us on structure-PK relationships for tailored cellular transport properties, while Junyu Xiao (Peking University) took a deep dive into the structures of antibody isotypes with a particular focus on the non-classical FcRL5 and its interaction with IgG. At last, Stian Foss (Universitetet i Oslo (UiO) Oslo universitetssykehus Precision Immunotherapy Alliance, PRIMA) discussed how -Fc engineering for improved PK affects engagement and how binding to both receptors can be improved.
The Life Science Cluster Norwegian Society for Immunology - NSI Det medisinske fakultet ved Universitetet i Oslo Oslo Science City Oslo universitetssykehus Forskningsparken - Oslo Science Park