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Institute for Research in Biomedicine

PARTNER N°	46
NAME OF INSTITUTION	Fondazione per l’Istituto di Ricerca in Biomedicina (IRB)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TEAM
	The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), affiliated at the Università della Svizzera italiana, was founded in 2000 to advance the study of human immunology, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms of host defense. Federica Sallusto and Antonio Lanzavecchia’s laboratories use high throughput cell-based technologies to untangle the complexity of the human T cell and B cell immune response and to identify mechanisms of host defense or pathology.
KEY CONTACT PERSON(S)
Key scientific contact person 1 (Team leader)
Name	Federica Sallusto
Photo
Position in the Institution	Group leader of the Cellular Immunology Laboratory and Director of the Center of Medical Immunology
Email address	federica.sallusto@irb.usi.ch
Phone number	+41 91 820 03 15
Mobile phone number	+41 76 326 77 34
Postal address	Institute for Research in Biomedicine Via Vincenzo Vela 6 6500 Bellinzona Switzerland
Role in the Consortium	WP 2 : Clinical biology & immunology
	Task 2.2: Description of natural history of infection & impact of previous flaviviral exposure
	Sub-task: 2.2.5: Identification of biomarkers associated with infection or with complications: impact of prior immunity
	The role of flavivirus specific pre‐immunity in disease outcome will be determined by generating human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) isolated from memory B cells of pregnant and non‐pregnant patients with uncomplicated and complicated ZIKV virus infection. Selected human mAbs will be sequenced, produced recombinantly and analysed in parallel for binding to the panel of flaviviruses and to their relevant antigens and for neutralization or enhancement of infection of target cells. The mAbs will be used to standardize current diagnostic assays and to determine site‐specific antibodies in polyclonal sera.
Role in the Consortium	WP 2: Clinical biology & immunology
	Task 2.2: Description of natural history of infection & impact of previous flaviviral exposure
	Subtask 2.2.6: Identification of biomarkers associated with infection or with complications: potential autoimmune markers
	Auto‐antigen‐reactive mAbs will be isolated from ZIKV patients with neurological complications and tested for cross‐reactivity against flavivirus antigens. Variants of the cross‐reactive autoantibodies will be produced in which somatic mutations are removed to test if they are necessary to generate autoreactivity.