Speaker: Aaron Meyer, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, UCLA

Dissecting FcγR Regulation Through a Multivalent Binding Model

Many immune receptors transduce activation across the plasma membrane through their clustering. With Fcγ receptors, this clustering is driven by binding to antibodies of differing affinity that are in turn bound to multivalent antigen. As a consequence of this activation mechanism, accounting for and rationally manipulating IgG effector function is complicated by, among other factors, differing affinities between FcγR species and changes in the valency of antigen binding. In this study, we show that a model of multivalent receptor-ligand binding can effectively account for the contribution of IgG-FcγR affinity and immune complex valency. This model, in turn, enables us to make specific predictions about the effect of immune complexes of defined composition. In total, these results enable both rational immune complex design for a desired IgG effector function and the deconvolution of effector function by immune complexes.

Biography:

Aaron S. Meyer is an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. He received his B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was an independent fellow at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. His awards include the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, Siebel Scholars award, and a Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation Fellowship. The Meyer lab focuses on combining experimental and computational techniques to reverse engineer cancer and innate immune signaling, with the goal of designing immune-and cancer-targeted therapies.

Seminar Flyer_Aaron Meyer