many(Anti)Bodies

ended

Many of the exceptional breakthroughs in pharmaceutics require the collective and interdisciplinary effort of the scientific community to overcome challenges and shortcomings involved in optimizing the formulation of the final product. Monoclonal antibodies, for instance, have been found to be highly effective for the treatment of various immunological and allergic diseases as well as for cancer treatments thanks to their high specificity. On the other hand, they typically present high viscosities in concentrated solutions, dramatically altering their flow properties. The direct consequence is the difficulty in preparing stable solutions suitable for subcutaneous self-administration which, compared to intravenous infusion, would be advantageous in terms of patient compliance and adherence to the treatment, and reduced healthcare costs. Currently, a univocal framework providing microscopic interpretation to the enhanced viscosity is missing. With my proposal many(Anti)Bodies, I aim to address this issue by putting forward an interdisciplinary approach which exploits soft matter and colloidal science to investigate the molecular origin of the observed macroscopic behavior in antibody solutions. By combining numerical simulations with experiments, I will first design an accurate single-molecule model that accounts for the anisotropic shape of the antibody and include all relevant ingredients that determine intermolecular interactions. Therefore, through advanced computational techniques, I will be able to bring the current understanding of the antibody collective behavior and rheological properties to a new level, by shedding light on their dynamics and self-association in crowded environments. With the direct collaboration of pharmaceutical industries, my proposal will ultimately guide the formulation of novel antibody-based biologics and inspire future studies where the features of the antibody are designed according to the desired solution properties.