Antibody discovery for neglected tropical and emerging infectious diseases

单抗治疗现在被常规用作癌症治疗和免疫抑制药。如今获得许可的许多单抗都是所谓的“重磅炸弹”疗法，最畅销的10种治疗药物中的大多数都是单抗。直到最近，用于传染病的单抗在很大程度上落后于癌症和免疫疗法的单抗。然而，治疗需求的增加，以及最近的Covid大流行的刺激，导致了在优化制造和降低生产成本方面的大量投资和进展。因此，人们越来越有兴趣投资和开发针对传染病的单抗，包括新出现的传染病和那些主要影响LMICs的疾病。利用LSTM和兰卡斯特大学的独特资源，该项目将侧重于为一系列被忽视的热带病开发单抗，例如蛇咬伤、蛇毒和新近出现的传染病，包括痘病毒(例如MPOX)。

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies are now routinely used as cancer therapies and immunosuppressants. Many mAbs licensed today are so-called 'blockbuster' therapies, with the majority of the Top 10 best-selling therapeutic drugs being mAbs. Until recently, mAbs for infectious diseases have largely lagged behind those for cancer and immunotherapies. However, the increase in demand for therapies, and spurred on by the recent covid pandemic, has led to substantial investments and advances in optimised manufacturing and reducing production costs. As such, there is increasing appetite for investing and developing mAbs for infectious diseases, including emerging infectious diseases and those which predominantly affect LMICs. Using LSTM's and Lancaster University's unique resources, this project will be focused on the development of mAbs for a range of neglected tropical diseases, such as snakebite envenoming and recently emerging infectious diseases including pox viruses (for example, mpox).