The immune system keeps a record of past infections. Can we learn to ‘read’ this record?

The Qimmuno Lab at University College London (https://qimmuno.com/) is looking for a PhD student for a 3 year studentship entitled 'Physics-guided machine learning of the immune receptor code'.

The adaptive immune system protects against infections and cancers by detecting them through hypervariable surface receptors on T cells. Each receptor binds to specific molecular targets, giving T cells the ability to sensitively detect fragments of viral or cancer-associated proteins. Individuals rarely have the exact same receptors as stochastic genetic recombination creates enormous receptor diversity. To crack the ‘code’ that links the immune record to an individual’s past, an important open problem is to identify common patterns in specific receptors. The aim of this project is to develop novel machine learning approaches to predict which immune receptors confer specificity to the same ligand.

For detailed information, please see https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/physics-guided-machine-learning-of-the-immune-receptor-code/?p158629

Application Deadline: July 7
The project is available for students eligible for UK home student fees