Jesse Bloom - February 17, 2021

Jesse Bloom, PhD, Associate Professor, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, Affiliate Associate Professor, Genome Sciences & Microbiology, University of Washington, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Antigenic Evolution of Human Coronaviruses

Interpreting the Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Dr. Bloom’s group is currently dedicated to studying SARS-CoV-2 through the lens of evolutionary biology, focusing on the dynamics of the viral genome as new variants arise and proliferate in the population. Effective neutralizing antibodies often target the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein’s receptor binding domain (RBD), and most of the neutralizing activity of convalescent human sera comes from RBD-binding antibodies. As SARS-CoV-2 evolves, however, several variants have arisen that evade the neutralizing capabilities of human antibodies. An ultimate goal of Dr. Bloom’s work is to leverage the individual differences in neutralizing capabilities of endogenous antibody responses to identify the biochemical determinants of more evolution-resistant immune responses. By using RBD-presenting yeast in high-throughput assays for RBD and antibody affinity assays, they are able to functionally map the binding dynamics between antibody and viral variants, including developing escape maps for many leading clinical antibody candidates.