Bioinformatics tools for T-cell receptor based drugs

Aims and Objectives We have developed a range of software and databases for analysis of antibody sequence and structure. In particular, abYsis is widely used online and is successfully sold to companies for in-house use. Antibodies have shown a huge degree of success as novel therapeutics and the related T-Cell Receptors (TCRs) are now being exploited. We wish to repurpose methods we have developed for antibodies for use with TCRs as well as developing new approaches and performing new analyses. Software will be developed to apply standard numbering to TCRs, such that sequence and structure features can be analyzed. Tools will be developed to store and analyze public sequence and structure data with a view to producing software that can be used in the development of TCR-based drugs.
Crystal structures will be analyzed to look at domain packing which can be exploited to improve TCR modelling. Huge nextgen TCR sequence datasets will then be analyzed taking a 'big data' approach storing sequence data, analyzing residue distributions and adding annotations, triaging sequences at each step to reduce unnecessary analysis. Triage will include screening out very unusual sequences and those with likely immunogenicity or developability issues. A basic web interface will be developed to allow the data to be explored and new sequences to be analyzed.