August Jernbom Falk

Antibody repertoire profiling is increasingly being recognized as an important and understudied modality for precision medicine. The antibody repertoire is the ensemble of antibodies found in an individual at a given time. It displays high heterogeneity between individuals while being both largely temporally stable within an individual and rapidly responsive to immunological challenge. As distinct collections of antibodies within the repertoire contribute to the function and malfunction of the immune system, studying the many aspects of the antibody repertoire can give increased knowledge on antibody-mediated pathogen defense and autoimmune conditions.

The overarching aim of my research is to develop this novel venue of precision medicine by charting the rules underlying the many facets of antibody repertoire heterogeneity. This requires integration of several experimental technologies and the development of computational tools tailored to this unique data type. During my doctoral research I have explored one facet of the repertiore using Human Protein Atlas antigen arrays, focusing on disease-associated autoantibody repertoires as well as the prevalence and persistence of the serological and autoantibody response emerging after viral infection. I am now expanding my focus to multi-disease serology and multi-omics integration for the advancement of human health.

Affiliation:
Div of Affinity Proteomics
Dept of Protein Science
School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH)
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
SciLifeLab