The mammalian adaptive immune system evolved to provide protection against infectious agents, but also plays an important role in a variety of other diseases, including cancers and autoimmune conditions. Methods to monitor and manipulate the immune system are of enormous clinical interest. For example, drugs capable of “reawakening” the immune system to cancer have generated enormous excitement. But with the notable exception of vaccines, all drugs available today that manipulate the immune system cannot distinguish between “good” and “bad” responses and thus drive general and systemic immune suppression or activation. Our ability to monitor and manipulate <i>antigen-specific</i> immune responses is in its infancy. Achieving this finer level of control would be highly desirable. For example, it might allow the pharmacological editing of pathogenic immune responses without restricting the ability of the immune system to defend against infection. On the diagnostic side, a method to comprehensively monitor the circulating, antigen-specific antibody population might provide a treasure trove of clinically useful biomarkers, since many diseases likely expose the immune system to characteristic molecules that will be deemed foreign and thus elicit the production of antibodies against them. In this presentation I will discuss ongoing efforts in my laboratory to develop chemical tools to effectively monitor and manipulate the adaptive immune system.

<b>Award Address</b> (Arthur C. Cope Late Career Scholars Award sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund). Chemical tools to monitor and manipulate the immune system

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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Award Address (Arthur C. Cope Late Career Scholars Award sponsored by the Arthur C. Cope Fund). Chemical tools to monitor and manipulate the immune system