Decoding T Cell Recognition at Scale by Dr Stephanie Gaglione

Dr Stephanie Gaglione discusses scalable technologies to map T cell receptor antigen interactions, enabling large datasets that could transform how we study immune recognition and build computational models of immunity. In this episode of 'Immunity by Design', Dr Hashem Koohy speaks with Dr Stephanie Gaglione about new experimental approaches that could transform how we study T cell recognition. At the heart of adaptive immunity lies the interaction between T cell receptors (TCRs) and antigenic peptides presented by MHC molecules. However, mapping these interactions at scale has remained one of the central challenges in immunology. 
Dr Gaglione discusses her work on scalable strategies for reconstructing and screening large numbers of TCRs, including the TCRAFT approach developed during her PhD with Michael Birnbaum at MIT. By enabling the reconstruction of thousands of TCRs from sequence data and integrating functional screening technologies such as RAPTR, these methods open the door to generating high-quality datasets linking TCR sequences to antigen specificity. 
The conversation explores the technological hurdles of many-to-many TCR antigen screening, the importance of accessible experimental tools for building community-scale datasets, and how such data could accelerate the development of computational models that predict immune recognition. The episode also touches on applications in autoimmune disease, including vitiligo, and the broader implications for immunology, cancer research, and data driven discovery.