COBEY LAB

We study how the host adaptive immune response coevolves with pathogens, especially in ways relevant to epidemiological and evolutionary forecasting, vaccine design, and pathogen diversity. Our work is computational, and we collaborate closely with immunologists and epidemiologists... We find that strong immune memory biases may make influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and other pathogens more likely to diversify, in contrast to prevailing theory that ignores these biases... We find that measuring neutralizing antibodies at the population level can help predict which clade of influenza will dominate and in whom. We also find antibody targeting of flu diversifies with age.

Primary location: Chicago United States