Vishal Rao

Germinal center–mediated broadening of B cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 booster immunization SARS-CoV-2 variant booster vaccination broadens human B cell responses through the germinal center reaction.

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www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#antibody #cryoEM

Clonotype-enriched somatic hypermutations drive affinity maturation of a public human antibody targeting an occluded sarbecovirus epitope Rao et al. demonstrate that convergent somatic hypermutations in the light chain, enriched within a sarbecovirus-specific public antibody clonotype, drive affinity maturation. This antibody targets a ...

🚨 New Publication!!!

I’m thrilled to share our latest study, “Clonotype-Enriched Somatic Hypermutations Drive Affinity Maturation of a Public Human Antibody Targeting an Occluded Sarbecovirus Epitope”.
www.cell.com/cell-reports... [1/4]

Thank you!

Had a great time presenting my PhD work so far in @camilahcoelho.bsky.social’s lab at the Keystone Vaccinology meeting! Grateful for the chance to share and learn alongside such an inspiring community of scientists!
#KSVaccines25

Somatic hypermutation unlocks antibody specificities beyond the primary repertoire Initial specificity is thought to be required for somatic hypermutation (SHM)-driven antibody evolution. Zuo, Gautam, et al. demonstrate that non-cognate B cells can enter germinal centers, undergo SHM, and acquire new antigen specificities, highlighting the capacity of antibodies to generate new recognition through SHM.

Online now: Somatic hypermutation unlocks antibody specificities beyond the primary repertoire

Find me at Poster Board 1012 on May 6th, Tuesday from 13:15 - 14:30 at #AAI !

We review methods to identify public antibodies, features of known public antibodies against human pathogens and their evolutionary significance and potential applications.

Public antibodies: convergent signatures in human humoral immunity against pathogens | mBio The human humoral immune response is mediated by antibodies, which are secreted in response to antigen exposure and are critical to protect against infection (1–3). Antibodies display enormous diversi...

Thrilled to share our new mini review article on public antibodies against human pathogens, now out in #mBio.
@camilahcoelho.bsky.social

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Diverse priming outcomes under conditions of very rare precursor B cells B cells that give rise to neutralizing antibody responses can be extremely rare in the naive B cell repertoire. Madden et al. show that delivery strategy and adjuvant selection affect the recruitment ...

One of our obsessions in the Crotty lab is to better understand B-cell immunology in the context of vaccines. Rare B cells can have antibody specificities particularly important for protection against some diseases. In our most recent paper…
@cp-immunity.bsky.social
www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

The labs of Krammer, @wchnicholas.bsky.social, Ellebedy et al. identify a neuraminidase-targeting human monoclonal antibody (mAb-297) induced by seasonal #influenza vaccination that broadly protects against multiple influenza A & B strains, incl. avian #H5N1. rupress.org/jem/article/...

Cool germinal center acrobatics from Juhee Pae et al, check it out!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Convergent and clonotype-enriched mutations in the light chain drive affinity maturation of a public antibody https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.07.642041v1

Immune history shapes human antibody responses to H5N1 influenza viruses - Nature Medicine H5N1 strain-specific antibodies are higher in older individuals and correlate more with birth year than with age, suggesting that younger individuals are potentially more likely to benefit from H5N1 v...

Today @natmedicine.bsky.social published our study showing the older individuals born prior to 1968 have more antibodies that cross-react to #H5N1 relative to younger individuals. If H5N1 causes a pandemic, children will likely be the most susceptible. 1/2

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This work was done in collaboration with @gogo-science.bsky.social, Dr. Duane Wesemann, @vivianasimonlab.bsky.social and Dr. Florian Krammer’s groups.

Convergent and clonotype-enriched mutations in the light chain drive affinity maturation of a public antibody Public antibodies that recognize conserved epitopes are critical for vaccine development, and identifying somatic hypermutations (SHMs) that enhance antigen affinity in these public responses is key t...

Glad to share our work from @camilahcoelho.bsky.social’s lab on identifying affinity-enhancing somatic hypermutations in public antibodies based on convergence and clonotype-enrichment!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Human naïve B cells recognize prepandemic influenza virus hemagglutinins Antibodies targeting the influenza hemagglutinin from potentially pandemic H5Nx viruses can be isolated from naïve individuals.

Our long-awaited study in collaboration with the Schmidt lab on H5Nx influenza recognition by naive B cells is out! #antibody #bcell #flu #avianflu #cryoEM

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...