Our Research

The Strong Lab's research focus is translational biophysics, structural molecular immunology and vaccinology. We are applying biophysical approaches to understand the recognition mechanisms of innate and adaptive immunoreceptors from a molecular perspective, ultimately to further vaccine development and engineer targeted immunotheranostics. These efforts are fostered and enabled by the highly-collaborative environment at the Hutch, providing an interface to clinical investigators and global health initiatives.

We use the tools of structural molecular biology (including biophysical methods such as x-ray crystallography and surface plasmon resonance (Biacore) biomolecular interaction analysis), combined with our recently developed Daedalus protein expression platform, to study receptor/ligand and antibody/antigen interactions. Results are exploited to engineer proteins with desirable specificities, activities and pharmacokinetic properties, but research projects are always conducted with the dual propose of advancing basic science.