Come to the doctoral defense
Professor Andreas Hougaard Laustsen-Kiel defends his thesis, “Engineering Antivenom.” The event is open to everyone, but the doors will close when the venue is full.
Snakebite envenoming remains a major but neglected global health problem, particularly in low-income regions. Existing plasma-derived antivenoms can be effective, but they often trigger immune reactions due to their heterologous origin, are costly to produce, and contain a large proportion of antibodies that do not contribute to clinical benefit. These limitations highlight the need for safer, more affordable, and more targeted therapies.
This dr.techn. dissertation establishes and applies a rational framework for next-generation antivenoms, combining toxicovenomics-based venom characterization, recombinant toxin expression, and engineering-based design of recombinant antibody therapies. Key contributions include the discovery of broadly neutralizing human antibodies and nanobodies using phage display and the development and validation of oligoclonal antibody mixtures capable of venom neutralization.
The work integrates scientific, technological, and manufacturing principles to enable systematic development of safe, cost-effective recombinant antivenoms with higher therapeutic relevance, and discusses remaining challenges and opportunities for translating these advances into global clinical impact.
Link:
https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/engineering-antivenom/
Watch the defense on Zoom: https://dtudk.zoom.us/j/69629750715