Antibody Engineering Hackathon August 2022

The 2nd Virtual Hackathon for Developing CURES in Antibody Engineering will take place August 8-11th, 2022.

Apply today!

More information can be found at Antibody Engineering Hackathon August 2022

This work is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education program (DUE 2055036).

This event is free.  

As a Hackathon participant, you will:

• work in a team to research and develop antibody-related student research projects,
• learn about antibodies and how they can be engineered
• Learn about the use of antibodies in diagnostics, research, and therapeutics,
• develop new skills in immunology-related bioinformatics programs and databases,
• learn about new laboratory techniques for working with antibodies, and
• become part of an exciting, fun, and collaborative community.

Faculty and students with varying levels of experience in working with antibodies are encouraged to apply.  Participants will be selected based on experience and motivation to attend. Applicants from community colleges will receive the highest priority. Participants must be US-based.

Our proposed summer projects are:

• Affordable Antibody Engineering:  (level = beginner - advanced) This project focuses on developing a low-tech antibody screening method (yeast display) for undergraduate classrooms. This method will enable academic institutions with low budgets to offer antibody engineering experience to their students without expensive equipment. 
   
• ImmunoZoo & iCn3D for education:  (level = beginner - advanced) This project includes multiple activities: 
  • aligning molecular modeling activities with NGSS and Vision and Change.
  • creating a data set of antibody structures from multiple creatures.
  • developing and testing an essential feature set for an educational version of iCn3D
     
• Anti-SARS Antibodies vs Variants:  (ongoing, level = medium - advanced) This project focuses on identifying the interactions between commercial antibodies and the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and making and testing predictions about the ability of commercial antibodies to neutralize the delta variant. 
• Virtual reality & iCn3D: (new, level = advanced) contribute to developing a version of iCn3D with a virtual reality component.
   
• IEDB research projects:  (ongoing, level = medium - advanced)  The IEDB (Immune Epitope Data Base) is an important tool for identifying and exploring the sequences and substances that are recognized by antibodies and T cell receptors. This project will address developing course-based research projects related to IEDB.

• Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence & Antibodies: (new, level = medium - advanced) contribute to developing an antibody data set and classroom examples to help students better understand machine learning and AI.
   
• The Antibody Company Game: (new, level = beginner - advanced) contribute to developing and play testing a game that simulates the process of drug development.
   
• Other projects: Other projects may be added.  Want to try making antibodies in algae?  Or try something with nanobodies?  Let us know!  If you have a project in mind that you would like to do, please consider volunteering as a team leader.  The team leaders we have, the more projects we can do.

If you have questions or need additional information, please email sandra@digitalworldbiology.com