K. Dane Wittrup, Ph.D.

Dane WittrupProtein engineers can engineer antibodies and scaffold proteins with widely varying size and affinity, however the field has lacked any design principles for how best to exploit this capability.  We developed simple scaling analyses that illustrated the tradeoffs between fundamental rate processes (clearance, extravasation, endocytosis) and have successfully predicted all subsequent experimental exploration of the effects of varying size and affinity on tumor uptake.  We and others continue to use these models to design new drug candidates and examine their pharmacokinetics.