2025

Yeast Display Technology for Antibody Discovery

A five-day intensive course for hands-on learning of yeast display applications

June 9 – 13, 2025
Boston, MA

Apply now

About

Led by a team of antibody discovery experts at the Institute for Protein Innovation (IPI), this course combines lectures and laboratory sections to train participants in the core principles of yeast display technology.

  • Date: June 9 – 13, 2025
  • Location: The Maureen Murphy Wilkens Science Center at Emmanuel College and the IPI FACS facility in Boston, MA
  • Tuition: $999 academic participants | $1599 industry participants
  • Application due date: April 7, 2025
  • Director: André Teixeira, Ph.D., Senior Director of IPI Antibody Platform

Highlights:

  • Laboratory sessions on library preparation, magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS), fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) sample preparation
  • Lectures on principles, applications and methods of yeast display
  • Seminars from invited speakers with established careers in display technologies
  • Mini-conference-style presentations to engage scientific discussion and collaboration around participants’ personal research projects
  • Networking sessions to facilitate connections among members of the protein science community

Instructors

Andre Teixeira smiling in office.

André A. R. Teixeira, Ph.D.

André leads IPI’s Antibody Platform and has extensive experience generating antibody libraries, antibody engineering and display technologies. He has worked and collaborated with dozens of pharmaceutical companies, biotechs and academic groups to generate therapeutic and research antibodies.

Deepash Kothiwal, Ph.D.

Deepash is a Senior Scientist at IPI and leads IPI’s Antibody Discovery group. He has extensive knowledge of display technologies, library creation and yeast genetics, including the impact of cohesion dysfunction on budding yeast.

Rebecca smiles in the IPI office. She wears glasses and earrings, and has curly hair draped over her shoulders.

Rebecca Hershman, Ph.D.

Rebecca is a Scientist with IPI’s Antibody Discovery group. She has a background in chemical engineering, and has developed groundbreaking yeast display systems incorporating non-canonical amino acids into antibody libraries.

Swethika Balasankar smiles in the IPI office.

Swethika Balasankar, M.Sc.

Swethika is a Research Associate with IPI’s Antibody Discovery group. She has experience in phage and yeast display and has completed more than one hundred successful antibody discovery campaigns down to single-digit nanomolar affinities.

Guest speakers

All
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dane Wittrup, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School

Andrew Kruse, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University

Jamie Spangler, Ph.D.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dane Wittrup, Ph.D.

Dr. Dane Wittrup is the C.P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his group focuses on cancer immunotherapy. He is also the Associate Director for Engineering at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.

Dr. Wittrup attended the University of New Mexico as an undergraduate, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering. He went on to attend the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he worked with Dr. James Bailey on flow cytometry and segregated modeling of recombinant populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Biology, he spent a brief time working as a postdoctoral research associate in Amgen’s Yeast Molecular Biology Group before becoming an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Wittrup has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the American Institute of Biomedical Engineers and to the National Academy of Engineering.

Harvard Medical School

Andrew Kruse, Ph.D.

Dr. Andrew Kruse is a Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. He is also a co-founder of Tectonic Therapeutic and the Institute for Protein Innovation.

Dr. Kruse received Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota in 2009, and completed a Ph.D. in Structural Biology at Stanford University in 2014, where he trained with Dr. Brian Kobilka. He began his independent career as an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School in 2014. He has received awards including a Richard A. Smith Award, an Amgen Young Investigator Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Vallee Scholars Award and an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award.

His research focuses on the structure and function of transmembrane receptors, using a combination of biophysical and cell biological approaches. His lab also makes extensive use of combinatorial protein engineering methods such as yeast surface display of single-domain antibody fragments. Key research accomplishments include defining the structural basis for agonist action at the angiotensin II type 1 receptor and other G protein-protein coupled receptors, cloning the sigma-2 receptor, and determining the first structure of a tetraspanin protein and showing how it regulates B cell activation.

Johns Hopkins University

Jamie Spangler, Ph.D.

Dr. Jamie Spangler is the Brody Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. 

Dr. Spangler earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Spangler launched her independent research group at Johns Hopkins University in 2017, jointly between the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. 

Her lab, located in the Translational Tissue Engineering Center at the School of Medicine, applies structural and mechanistic insights to re-engineer existing proteins and design new proteins that therapeutically modulate the immune response. In particular, her group is interested in engineering immune molecules such as cytokines, growth factors and antibodies for targeted treatment of diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune disorders. 

 

Schedule

2025 yeast display course schedule

How to apply

1
Application

Interested in participating in the Yeast Display course? Apply online now!

2
Application deadline: April 7, 2025

Complete the online application form. Don't forget to upload your CV/ resume and a letter of support!

3
Acceptance confirmation: May 9, 2025

All applications received by the deadline will be reviewed by the IPI team. Notification of acceptance will be sent to applicants on May 9, 2025

4
Payment deadline: May 30, 2025

Course participants will receive payment instructions upon notification of acceptance.

5
First day of course: June 9, 2025

Participants will gather at the Maureen Murphy Wilkins Science Center at Emmanuel College on Monday, June 9, 2025 at 8 a.m.

Course prerequisites:

  • Basic knowledge of molecular biology techniques (e.g., PCR, microorganism culture)
  • Basic knowledge of biochemistry and cell biology (e.g., protein structure, function, cellular processes)
  • Basic knowledge of genetic engineering techniques (e.g., cloning, plasmid extraction)

Application materials:

  • Curriculum vitae/resume
  • Application form
  • Letter of support (optional)
Apply now

Questions? 

Email [email protected].

FAQ

Participants are expected to attend in person and actively participate in all five days of the course. In addition, participants will be required to give a 5-10 minute presentation on their research on how yeast display applications may align with their current and future projects.

The course will be held in-person on June 9-13, 2025 at the Maureen Murphy Wilkens Science Center, Emmanuel College (400 Fenway, Boston, MA 02115). Teaching will also take place in neighboring lab space at IPI (4 Blackfan Circle, Room 921, Boston, MA 02115). The finalized daily schedule will be provided to participants in advance of the course.

Course tuition is $999 for participants from academia/nonprofit and $1599 for participants from industry. Fees will be due upon notification of acceptance. IPI encourages all interested parties to apply; if costs are a concern, please contact [email protected] to discuss any financial hardship and your needs.

Housing is not covered by tuition. However, limited dormitory-style accommodation at Emmanuel College is available at an additional cost. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

Because this is an advanced technical course, we expect all participants to have some familiarity with standard molecular biology techniques and a basic understanding of methods of immunodetection. No prior experience with yeast display is required.

We expect this course to be most beneficial to postdoctoral fellows, advanced graduate students,  faculty/principal investigators, and industry scientists interested in learning how to integrate yeast display methods into their research programs or those who desire to build their skills in protein science.

Coffee/continental breakfast and lunch will be provided all five days. Light appetizers and a happy hour will be provided Thursday and Friday. Once the roster of participants is finalized, we will be in touch with all attendees to understand and accommodate any specific dietary restrictions.

Parking is extremely limited in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area. Course participants are strongly encouraged to make use of public transportation for travel to and from the course location. Emmanuel College and IPI are within walking distance from the MBTA Green Line, several bus stops and the Commuter Rail. 

The course will start at 8 a.m. ET and end no later than 6 p.m. ET each day. Participants are required to attend all five days of the course.

Students should come prepared to present a brief overview of their current work and how to potentially integrate yeast display methods to enhance their research. Presentations will be no longer than 5-7 minutes and will be followed by a short discussion section. Upon acceptance into the course, more detailed guidance will be provided.

Organizers & sponsors

Organizers:

  • Course content team: André Teixeira, Deepash Kothiwal, Rebecca Hershman and Swethika Balasankar
  • Technical support and advisors: Shaotong Zhu and Nick Hollmer
  • Communications and Education team: Trisha Gura, Emily McMains, Caitlin Faulds and Sabrina Liu

Sponsors:

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