William Dall’Acqua
William Dall’Acqua is Senior Director Research & Development at MedImmune, Gaithersburg, where he supervises a group in the Department of Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering.
His team of 29 scientists is working on the discovery of new therapeutic antibody drugs and establishing novel antibody technology platforms. In particular, William’s group has developed a novel and ground-breaking strategy to improve the serum half-life of human IgG. Such long-lasting molecules have the potential to make an impact in the field of antibody-based therapy.
William has been studying protein structure, function and engineering for over 20 years and has co-authored over 45 papers and one book chapter in the field. He has also been named inventor on 16 issued patents. He has Bachelor and Masters’ Degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Paris, and a PhD. in Immunology from the University of Paris in conjunction with the University of Maryland. He also spent two and a half years as a postdoctoral fellow at Genentech’s Molecular Oncology Department, before joining MedImmune.
LATEST PROJECT
The YTE leap in technology
POSITION
Head, Antibody Lead Generation, Gaithersburg
PEER RECOGNITION
Elsevier publication co-editor, peer publication reviewer, NIH site reviewer, panelist, SAB member and speaker at multiple conferences
Featured publications
Enhancement of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity
Enhancement of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity by endowing IgG with FcαRI (CD89) binding. Borrok MJ, Luheshi NM, Beyaz N, Davies GC, Legg JW, Wu H, Dall'Acqua WF, Tsui P. MAbs. 2015 4; 7(4):743-51.
Structural Insights into Sifalimumab
Structural Insights into the Neutralization Properties of the Fully Human, Anti-interferon Monoclonal Antibody Sifalimumab. Oganesyan V, Peng L, Woods RM, Wu H, Dall'Acqua WF. J Biol Chem. 2015; 290(24):14979-85.
Molecular basis of bispecific antibody's target selectivity
Insights into the molecular basis of a bispecific antibody's target
selectivity. Mazor Y, Hansen A, Yang C, Chowdhury PS, Wang J, Stephens
G, Wu H, Dall'Acqua WF. MAbs. 2015; 7(3):461-9.
doi: 10.1080/19420862.2015.1022695.
Improving target cell specificity
Improving target cell specificity using a novel monovalent bispecific IgG design. Mazor Y, Oganesyan V, Yang C, Hansen A, Wang J, Liu H, Sachsenmeier K, Carlson M, Gadre DV, Borrok MJ, Yu XQ, Dall'Acqua W, Wu H, Chowdhury PS. MAbs. 2015; 7(2):377-89. doi: 10.1080/19420862.2015.1007816.
Antagonistic activity of anifrolumab
Molecular basis for antagonistic activity of anifrolumab, an anti-interferon-α receptor 1 antibody. Peng L, Oganesyan V, Wu H, Dall'Acqua WF, Damschroder MM. MAbs. 2015; 7(2):428-39.
FcRn affinity threshold that governs IgG recycling
pH-dependent binding engineering reveals an FcRn affinity threshold that governs IgG recycling. Borrok MJ, Wu Y, Beyaz N, Yu XQ, Oganesyan V, Dall'Acqua WF, Tsui P. J Biol Chem. 2015 ; 290(7):4282-90.
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