Researchers at the Department involved in the development of a new system to validate and name new antibody genes
– Published 8 March 2019
Researchers from 12 countries in Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Oceania incl. researchers from the Department of Immunotechnology have published a system for validation and naming of newly discovered genes that the immune system uses to create the antibodies that protect us, for example against infections. The work has been carried out within the framework of AIRR - the Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire Community. Such genes have been shown to differ much more between individuals than we previously thought. Modern genetic engineering technologies, so-called Next Generation Sequencing, and bioinformatics now enable not only the identification of each individual's gene set but also the identification of brand new, previously unspecified germline genes. It is these new genes that the now published system defines. The intention is that the system will improve the analysis of e.g. how the immune system responds to vaccination and infection and is able to protect the individual from disease. If you have discovered human antibody encoding germline genes based on the information of immunoglobulin transcriptome NGS data sets we urge you to submit these genes through our OGRDB - the Open Germline Receptor Database web portal.