Abstract
Antibody-antigen interactions sit at the heart of modern immunotherapies. While much of the field has focused on enhancing antibody binding for more effective targeting, a complementary strategy is emerging: engineering antigens to evade recognition and shield healthy cells from therapy. In this talk, I will present my work in computational and molecular immune engineering, focusing on epitope-guided design to both augment and disrupt antibody-antigen interactions. This dual approach enables critical advances in target therapy: enhancing the selectivity and potency of antibodies and antibody-derived therapies and protecting healthy cells during targeted immunotherapy. I will illustrate applications in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), where engineered selectivity enables eradication of malignant cells while preserving normal haematopoiesis. I will then share my perspective on how immune engineering and genomics can converge and inform the development of next generation targeted, patient-specific therapies.
Short BioDr. Lepore is a computational biologist with a PhD in Life Sciences and Biomedicine from Sapienza University of Rome and an MSc in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Her research focuses on the study of protein structure and function, antibody-antigen interactions, and the development of computational tools for biomedical research. She has held research positions at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in the past, and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.
Most recently, as Scientific consultant and Project Leader at the Department of Biomedicine and the Biozentrum, University of Basel, she has led multiple high-impact projects developing novel technologies for immune engineering and biologics discovery, in collaboration with leading institutions and biotech companies. Her work has resulted in multiple patents, the establishment of a spin-off company, and several scientific publications in top journals such as Nature, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Nature Communications, and others.