The Antibody Society, Inc. is an international non-profit trade association representing individuals and organizations involved in antibody research and development. The Society is an authoritative source of information about antibody therapeutics development, which is disseminated via our website, presentations and publications. In addition, the Society organizes conferences and webinars on antibody research and development and related topics. The Society also serves as the home for the Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire Community, which focuses on developing standards and protocols for curating, analyzing and sharing antibody B and T cell receptors. As a business association, the Society can engage with government and international agencies such as the World Health Organization to discuss topics that are important to the antibody community, such as international naming conventions. The Antibody Society is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization, as designated by the US Internal Revenue Service. As such, donations of any kind, including corporate and standard membership fees, are not tax deductible.
Mission and Values Statement of The Antibody Society
- To provide an international forum for the field of recombinant antibodies, antibody and T-cell receptor engineering, computational systems immunology and related areas (“the field”).
- To facilitate the discussion and interchange of ideas regarding issues of fundamental importance for basic research, therapeutic development and clinical testing in the field.
- To publish or otherwise disseminate information on issues and developments in the field.
- To provide guidance for basic and applied research, as well as development and commercialization in the field.
- Where possible, to promote Open Science and adherence to FAIR principles for data generation, integration, sharing and mining. FAIR is a set of guiding principles to make data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
- To assist the training and advancement of students, postdoctoral fellows and other new members in the field, in part through sponsorship of international scientific meetings.
- To promote diversity and inclusivity in our work and governance.
- To promote transparency in our work and governance.
- To promote the active participation of the Members in the mission and initiatives of the Society.
Note: The mission of The Antibody Society is summarized in the Articles of Organization from its incorporation in Massachusetts on 22 February 2007.
2023 Activities
Visit our calendar of events to find details about our upcoming activities!
2022 Activities
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Symposia
The Antibody Society hosted two Symposia in 2022. Event recordings available on the Society’s YouTube Channel.
“Biopharmaceutical Informatics: Machine learning, molecular simulations and digital transformation of experimental data to accelerate discovery and development of biotherapeutics” was held on September 29, 2022
“Harnessing Cytokines for Cancer Immunotherapy” was held on November 1, 2022.
The Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community of the Society continued their work developing: 1) a common repository for AIRR sequence data; 2) standards for publishing and depositing AIRR sequence data; and 3) resources and guidelines for the evaluation of molecular and statistical methods for AIRR sequence data. The AIRR Community held an in-person meeting in May 2022:
AIRR Community Meeting VI “Exploring New Frontiers” was held in La Jolla, CA from May 17-19, 2022. This meeting had two themed “Challenge Sessions” meant to:
(i) Initiate and implement a strategic plan for the AIRR Community that integrates the Working Groups’ activities toward the central goal of universally accepted AIRR-seq data standards;
(ii) Introduce the Community to multidimensional systems approaches for characterizing immune responses, and how AIRR-seq data can benefit such approaches.
The Society hosted 9 webinars on topics relevant to antibody discovery and development and adaptive immune receptor repertoire studies. Visit the Learning Center to register for upcoming events or access recordings for the various series.
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Meetings
In cooperation with Informa, Society members provided the scientific content, acting as chairs and speakers, for 2 major meetings in 2022:
· Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics Europe
· Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics (US)
Both meetings focus on the presentation of great science and provide excellent opportunities for networking among our members.
2021 Activities
The Society had an exceptionally busy year with science dissemination and held 17 webinars in four different series. Visit the Learning Center to register for upcoming events or access recordings for the various series.
- Antibody Discovery & Development
- Antibodies to Watch
- Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoires
- Commercializing Antibody Therapeutics
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Symposia
The Antibody Society hosted two Symposia in 2022. Event recordings available on the Society’s YouTube Channel.
The Society, in collaboration with the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance presented a half day symposium on September 23rd. The expert speaker line-up helped spread knowledge and awareness around current and up-and-coming basic and clinical research on the use of antibody and immune therapeutics for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Event recordings available on the Society’s YouTube Channel.
The Society, in collaboration with LAVA Therapeutics presented a symposium on November 29th. Empowering the potent and specific anti-tumor activities of γδ-T cells is an emerging and highly exciting approach in the fight against cancer. Key opinion leaders presented the most recent developments for novel γδ-T cell-directed treatments for cancer, and participated in a dynamic panel discussion on key opportunities and perspectives. The symposium playlist is available on the Society’s YouTube Channel.
2020 Activities
We completed our 10-part webinar series on antibody reagent validation narrated by Dr. Simon Goodman. Webinar details can be found in our Learning Center. Planning is underway for a new webinar series on antibody discovery and development, which will feature speakers from our corporate sponsors, as well as the broader antibody research community.
The Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community of the Society continued their work developing: 1) a common repository for AIRR sequence data; 2) standards for publishing and depositing AIRR sequence data; and 3) resources and guidelines for the evaluation of molecular and statistical methods for AIRR sequence data. The AIRR Community holds educational workshops and meetings to discuss their progress. In 2020, they held two virtual meetings:
· AIRR Community Special Event: “Leveraging AIRR-sequencing data to inform the biology of COVID-19” held virtually September 8-10, 2020: and
· AIRR Community Meeting V: “Zooming in to the AIRR Community” held virtually December 8-10, 2020.
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Antibody therapeutics development metrics
Datasets generated from our antibody therapeutics development metrics initiative are continuously updated and analyzed, and results are disseminated via our website, presentations and publications, such as the “Antibodies to watch in 2020” report published in mAbs.
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Meetings
In addition to organizing the AIRR Community meeting, Society members provided the scientific content, acting as chairs and speakers, for 2 major meetings in 2020:
· Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics Europe, held virtually August 25-27, 2020; and
· Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics (US), held virtually December 13-17, 2020.
Both meetings focus on the presentation of great science and provide excellent opportunities for networking among our members.
2019 Activities
With the support of our sponsors and members, in 2019 the Society engaged in the following activities:
- We will generate webinars on antibody reagent validation, which will be narrated by Dr. Simon Goodman and feature key opinion leaders on the topic, such as Prof. Andreas Plückthun and Dr. Andrew Bradbury
- We will expand the education, training and career resources directed to our student and post-doc members
- The AIRR Community’s work developing standards for next-generation sequencing data will be the subject of a workshop to be held in May 2019 in Genoa, Italy. Information about the meeting can be found here.
- In 2019, the Society will organize the scientific sessions of Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics Europe, Antibody Engineering &Therapeutics US, and a FOCIS Symposium.
- Dr. James Huston will act as editor of the Society’s special issue of Protein Engineering, Design and Selection, and the Society will publish ‘Antibodies to watch in 2020’, a review of antibody therapeutics in late-stage clinical study and regulatory review as of late 2019.
- As part of our continuing antibody therapeutics development metrics initiative, datasets will be analyzed and results disseminated via our website and presentations. Excel files of up-to-date information on approved and in-development antibodies can be downloaded from the Members Only area.
- In 2019, the Society will fund numerous antibody-related meetings across North America and Europe. For more information, see Society-Funded Meetings.
2018 Activities
With the support of our sponsors and members, in 2018 the Society engaged in the following activities:
- AIRR Community Initiative: The AIRR Community committee of the Society continued to develop their recommendations for: 1) a common repository for AIRR sequence data, 2) standards for publishing and depositing AIRR sequence data, and 3) resources and guidelines for the evaluation of molecular and statistical methods for AIRR sequence data. For more information, see ‘The AIRR Community’ and explore items in the dropdown menu under the AIRR Community tab in the main menu.
- Antibody therapeutics development metrics initiative: Datasets generated were analyzed and results disseminated via our website and presentations. Our analyses indicate that antibody therapeutics have approval success rates that substantially exceed those of small molecule therapeutics (~20-25% vs ~10%, respectively, with variation depending on factors such as therapeutic area). Success rates were included in the ‘Antibodies to watch in 2019’ article published in mAbs. Members may download relevant presentations in the Members Only area.
- Publications: In 2018, Dr. James Huston acted as editor of the Society’s special issue of Protein Engineering, Design and Selection, and the Society’s ‘Antibodies to watch in 2019’, a review of antibody therapeutics in late-stage clinical study and regulatory review (as of November 30, 2018) that includes approval success rates derived from our antibody therapeutics development metrics initiative, was published online in December 2018.
- Society Meetings: In 2018, TAbS organized Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics US, Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics Europe, and a FOCIS Symposium.
- Supporting Partners’ Meetings: In 2018, TAbS funded meetings across North America and Europe. For more information, see Society-Funded Meetings.
- Antibody datasets: TAbS provided up-to-date information on approved and in-development antibodies to its members. Excel files of the data can be downloaded from the Members Only area.
In addition, Prof. Andreas Plückthun, a member of The Antibody Society’s Board of Directors, was appointed biological and publications advisor to WHO’s INN Expert Group. Prof. Plückthun will represent the Society in antibody naming discussions with the Expert Group. For more information, see ‘INN issue updates’.
2017 Activities
With the support of our sponsors and members, in 2017 the Society:
- Engaged in substantive discussions with WHO’s International Non-proprietary Names (INN) Expert Group regarding the definitions used to assign INN.
- Incorporated the Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community as a committee of the Society.
- Initiated a study of antibody therapeutics development metrics.
