Antibodies are multi-faceted proteins that are capable of an array of important functions. They play a critical role in immune protection against invading pathogens and also play a role in a variety of clinically relevant inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Many vaccines also induce neutralizing antibodies as a correlate of protection. Due to their high degree of specificity and generally favorable safety profiles, monoclonal antibodies have also emerged as one of the most promising and fastest growing classes of biotherapeutics. There are currently over 70 FDA-approved monoclonal antibodies and several hundred more in clinical development.

The conference will connect basic scientific aspects of B cell and antibody biology with applications to clinical antibody development, with key topics including antibodies targeting infectious disease agents, immunoglobulin effector function, antibody engineering, antibody structure, and pre-clinical antibody development.