{"id":50880,"date":"2026-06-02T14:53:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/?post_type=hits-project&#038;p=50880"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:05:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:05:24","slug":"synthimmune-design-of-peptide-based-immunogens-for-tackling-malaria-2","status":"publish","type":"hits-project","link":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/projects\/synthimmune-design-of-peptide-based-immunogens-for-tackling-malaria-2\/","title":{"rendered":"SynthImmune: Design of peptide-based immunogens for tackling malaria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The human immune system is powerful, yet it can be evaded by certain types of cancer and infection, leading to severe disease. Researchers in the <a href=\"http:\/\/synthimmune.de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SynthImmune Cluster of Excellence<\/a>\u2013 Engineering Immune Function with Synthetic Biology \u2013 aim to decode the mechanisms of protective \u201csuperior\u201d immune function and use this knowledge in a bottom-up approach to develop and assemble molecular building blocks that have complex immune functions.\u00a0 For this purpose, computational and experimental scientists in SynthImmune collaborate across disciplines to develop novel synthetic immunotherapies to prevent and treat diseases, including AIDS and malaria, as well as the therapeutically challenging pancreatic, lung, and brain cancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SynthImmune_Project_Figure_webseite-scaled.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SynthImmune_Project_Figure_webseite-1024x870.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-79691\" style=\"width:413px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Created in BioRender. Szablowski, D. (2026) <a href=\"https:\/\/BioRender.com\/hpz7gwh\">https:\/\/BioRender.com\/hpz7gwh<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>HITS is a participating institution in SynthImmune, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/2025\/05\/27\/excellence-strategy-hits-researchers-successful-with-two-clusters-on-astrophysics-and-life-sciences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;selected as a Cluster of Excellence<\/a> in the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments of Germany in May 2025. SynthImmune&#8217;s network spans across the Heidelberg and Mannheim campuses of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uni-heidelberg.de\/de\">Heidelberg University<\/a> and local institutions: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dkfz.de\/en\/\">DKFZ<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/sites\/heidelberg\/\">EMBL<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mr.mpg.de\/en\">MPImF<\/a>,&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nct-heidelberg.de\/\">NCT<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.h-its.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HITS<\/a>&nbsp;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/research\/mcm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Molecular and Cellular Modeling (MCM) group<\/a>&nbsp; at HITS is contributing to SynthImmune with MCM Group Leader Rebecca Wade serving as a principal investigator in the cluster&#8217;s Computation research area. The aim of the project at HITS is the computer-aided design of peptide-based antigens presented on nucleic-acid origami arrays as immunogens against malaria. New computational approaches combining AI-and molecular dynamics simulation-based methods will be developed and applied to design novel antigens and investigate the determinants of immunogenicity.&nbsp; Our approach will include the design of chemically modified peptides and the optimization of their kinetic parameters, particularly the <em>residence time <\/em>on cell receptors and antibodies<em>, <\/em>using computational methods developed at HITS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contributors:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/people\/rebecca-wade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rebecca Wade<\/a> (MCM)<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Member:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/people\/darius-szablowski\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Darius Szablowski<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":50877,"template":"","hits-research-group":[1298],"hits-project-category":[1397],"class_list":["post-50880","hits-project","type-hits-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hits-research-group-mcm-de","hits-project-category-active-projects-de"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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