List All Projects List Graduate Projects List Senior Design Projects List REU Projects Other Undergraduate Projects
Project # 37
Engineering a Yeast Surface Display Platform for Peptide/MHC Expression and Rapid Characterization of T Cell Receptor Mimic (TCRm) Antibodies
| Team Lead: | Hemshankar Laugi |
| Other Team Members: | Soroush Ghaffari |
| Faculty Advisor(s): | Jon A. Weidanz |
| Department: | BE |
| Project Type: | Other Undergraduate |
| Title: | Engineering a Yeast Surface Display Platform for Peptide/MHC Expression and Rapid Characterization of T Cell Receptor Mimic (TCRm) Antibodies |
| Abstract: | Targeting tumor-specific peptide Major Histocompatibility Complexes (pMHCs) with T cell receptor mimic (TCRm) antibodies represents a transformative approach in cancer immunotherapy, enabling precise recognition of antigens presented by tumor cells. TCRm antibodies combine the pMHC specificity of T cell receptors (TCRs) with the high affinity of monoclonal antibodies, offering improved binding compared to natural TCRs. Among potential pMHC targets, MART1, a well-characterized melanoma-associated transmembrane protein, is a robust model for developing novel TCRm antibodies using yeast surface display. In this study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (EBY100 cells) were genetically engineered to stably express single-chain MART1/HLA-A2 pMHC complexes on their surface. EBY100 cells were cultured and the expression level of their membrane-bound pMHC was quantified using flow cytometry. In this assay, conformational integrity of pMHC complexes was validated with anti MART1/HLA-A2, anti-HLA-A2, and beta cell 2-microglobulin antibodies. Our results revealed the high expression level of the properly folded protein on the EBY100 cells surface. In addition, anti-MART1 TCRm staining confirmed the peptide selectivity feature of TCRm antibodies. The yeast surface display system enables the development of TCR-mimic antibodies for personalized cancer immunotherapy. By targeting tumor-associated antigens, this platform accelerates the advancement of next-generation therapeutics, including ADCs, BiTEs, and CAR-T therapies. |
| Poster: | View Poster #37 (PDF) |
| Judges Scoring: | Submit Evaluation (judges only) |