Dr. Einav is focusing on how the human immune system, with its millions of different antibodies, protects us against a range of assaults from pathogens such as influenza to rapidly evolving cancers. Recently, researchers have designed antibodies to help the body fight cancer, infection and other diseases. These efforts have only begun to tap into the potential of developing antibody mixtures. By understanding the collective action of multiple antibodies, this research will investigate how the immune repertoire can be bolstered to better combat diseases.
Dr. Einav uses tools that involve multidimensional scaling (where high-dimensional datasets are projected down into a 2D landscape) and matrix completion (where a partial data set is filled in as a low-rank matrix). These computational tools are all paired with biophysics modeling to describe how multiple antibodies collectively fend off pathogens.
