Scott B. Biering, Ph.D.
Finalist Essay: One antibody to treat them all: Conserved flavivirus protein holds potential as target for versatile vaccines and therapies
Abstract:
Flaviviruses are a group of medically important viral pathogens which cause diverse disease pathologies and significant global disease burden.
A contributing factor to flavivirus pathogenesis is the conserved non-structural protein 1 (NS1), which triggers vascular leak through interactions with endothelial cells.
While NS1-specific antibodies have been shown to be protective against flavivirus infection, the mechanism by which they protect is unknown.
To determine how anti-NS1 antibodies protect against flavivirus infection and how NS1 triggers pathogenesis, Dr. Biering and his team solved a crystal structure of a protective and cross-reactive monoclonal antibody 2B7 in complex with dengue virus NS1.
About Scott Biering:
Scott Biering received undergraduate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Chicago.
He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in the laboratory of Dr. Eva Harris.
His present research investigates the role of viral proteins like flavivirus nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) and SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) in inducing viral pathogenesis and promoting viral dissemination.