Current Research 2009
The laboratory of Irun Cohen now performs research within constraints imposed by Weizmann Institute policy for scientists in the status of Professor Emeritus. The following projects are being carried out:Antigen microarray chip for profiling global antibody repertoires in health and disease -
In collaboration with Prof. Eytan Domany of the Department of Physics of Complex Systems, we developed an antigen chip that allows the global analysis of antibody reactivities to an array of various molecules including self-molecules. The antigen chip provides patterns of reactivities that can be analyzed by various informatic technologies as a means to detect the state of the individual immune system in health and disease: autoimmune diseases, cancer, transplantation, degenerative diseases and infections. This information is being used for early diagnosis, disease monitoring, stratification of patients, individualized medical care, prediction of incipient disease, prediction of response to treatment, and study of the evolution from birth of the healthy antibody and autoantibody repertoires.
Immunological Homunculus researchCollaborative research based on the antigen microarray chip is underway with colleagues at Tel Aviv University (Prof. Eshel Ben Jacob); Bar-Ilan University (Prof. Yoram Louzoun, Dr. Sol Efroni); The Open University (Dr. Noam Shental); Harvard Medical School (Dr. Francisco J. Quintana); and other academic institutions.
The development of the antigen microarray was driven by Irun Cohen’s concept of the Immunological Homunculus – the immune system’s image of the body and the environment based on the systems ability to react to dominant immune biomarker molecules.
See the following papers in the list of publications: 202; 235; 243; 246; 288; 358; 371; 377; 400; 406; 419; 423; 441; 458; 461; 472; 476; 479; 490; 495; 499.
An Israeli company, ImmunArray Ltd, (Prof. Eli Sahar, CEO) has been formed to commercialize the potential of the antigen chip platform to advance human health.
HSP60 peptide platform for subunit, conjugate vaccines with applications in cancer immunotherapy and infectious diseases
Heat shock protein molecules such as hsp60 are hyper-expressed at any site of inflammation; thus hsp60 expression is a universal feature of any infection or tumor. The hsp60 molecule is also the target of naturally autoimmune T cells in all individuals. This natural T-cell autoimmunity to hsp60 can be exploited, therefore, to construct subunit vaccines in which poorly immunogenic protein or carbohydrate antigens are conjugated to defined peptides of hsp60. The hsp60 peptides serve as universal T-cell carrier epitopes that markedly enhance the efficacy of subunit vaccines. Recently, we have discovered that conjugate multimers are also ligands for innate TLR4 molecules on antigen-presenting cells and activate them to enhance immunogenicity; HSP60 peptide conjugates thus serve as their own adjuvants.The immunology and applicability of such vaccines are being studied in bacterial and viral infections and in cancer immunotherapy. Subunit vaccines are being developed against Pneumococcal infection, West Nile virus, Cytomegalovirus and influenza (Profs. Bracha Rager and Angel Porgador) and a widespread tumor antigen (Prof. Lea Eisenbach).
See the following papers in the list of publications: 296; 350; 403; 436; 456; 481 .
An Israeli company, VacciGuard (Anat Eitan, CEO), has been established to commercialize the vaccines.
Peptide that inhibits apoptosis of cells: mechanism and application to therapy in ALS, lethal irradiation, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and myocardial infarction.
In preparation for publication in collaboration with Dr. Johannes Herkel. The peptide is being developed for clinical applications by the Israeli company Immune Pharma Limited (Eran Ovadia, CEO).Immune modulation by anti-ergotypic regulator peptide
The research was done in collaboration with Dr. Francisco J. Quintana. Clinical applications are being developed by the Israeli company Immune Pharma Limited (Eran Ovadia, CEO).See the following papers in the list of publications: 203; 270; 418; 435; 459; 493; 494.
Small molecule activator of effector T cell reactions in cancer immunotherapy
Unpublished; discovered in collaboration with Prof. Felix Mor.A new class of small, synthetic molecules that down-regulate immune inflammation
Unpublished; discovered in collaboration with Prof. Meir Shinitzky.A new class of small, synthetic molecules that induce apoptosis of tumor cells in vitro and in vivo
Unpublished.Complex systems and systems immunology in research, theory and therapy
Modeling and Simulation:
Collaboration with Prof. David Harel of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science and with Dr. Sol Efroni (now of Bar-Ilan University) has led to the development of a visual language for computer simulation of living systems that is understandable to biologists - Reactive Animation. This work has given rise to GemCell - a generic platform for modeling cellular systems.See the following papers in the list of publications: 385; 409; 433; 451; 470; 473; 482; 483; 489; 491; 498.
Complex Systems:
Collaborations with the late Prof. Lee Segel, Prof. Henri Atlan, Prof. David Harel, Prof. Sorin Solomon, Prof. Yoram Louzoun, Prof. Eshel Ben Jacob and Dr. Sol Efroni have led to insights into computational systems biology and complex systems.See the following papers in the list of publications: 199; 214; 215; 262; 298; 329; 353; 371; 372; 373; 379; 392; 402; 407; 455; 458; 462; 468; 476.
Complex Systems Book: I am currently writing a book on the evolution of complex biologic systems.