Defining BCR evolution during Immunization

The goals of this grant are to 1) investigate how adjuvants that activate different innate stimulatory pathways affect the maturation of germline VRC01-class BCRs towards their neutralizing potentials; 2) understand whether and how the dose of our germline-targeting immunogen influences the extent of activation and proliferation of B cells expressing VRC01-class BCRs and of ‘off-target’ B cells; and 3) examine in detail whether and how the length and amino acid composition of the CDRH3 domain of the heavy chain of VRC01-class BCRs contributes to the binding of our germline-targeting immunogen to diverse germline VRC01-class BCRs.