Version 22 of the AIRR Community Governance document has passed our internal review and the community feedback process and is now ready for formal ratification by the AIRR Community. A brief summary of the changes to the governance document are outlined in the V20 – V22 comparison document for your reference. AIRR Community Members are invited to login to the Members-only section of the AIRR-C website to access these documents, and then complete the voting survey on the Voting Page. For questions, please contact info@airr-community.org. Please vote today!
On AIRR Podcast Episode 15 Now Available!
In the latest episode of the On AIRR – An AIRR-C Podcast Series, Dr. Ulrik Stervbo and Dr. Zhaoqing Ding speak with Dr. Corey Watson and Dr. William Lees about the recent work by the Germline Database Working Group of the AIRR-Community. We discuss the challenges in creating a database to hold all relevant and potentially relevant germline information, especially in the light of increased discovery rate through technological advances and improved analysis pipelines. We also reflect on the complexity in handling personalized germline reference sets.
You can subscribe and listen in your favorite podcasting app or check out all of the On AIRR episodes here at http://onairr.airr-community.org or on the AIRR YT Channel. If you share podcast-related content in social media, please remember to use the hashtag #onairr!
Join us for the next AIRR-C webinar on Nov 7th!
Drs. Encarnita Mariotti-Ferrandiz and Nina Luning Prak, members of the Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) Community Biological Resources Working Group, will describe quality control (QC) procedures for immune repertoire profiling. Dr. Mariotti-Ferrandiz will describe QC pipelines for sequencing of T cell receptor gene rearrangements that are in use in her laboratory in the Department of Immunology, Immunopathology and Immunotherapy at the Sorbonne. Next, Dr. Luning Prak will describe QC pipelines for sequencing of B cell receptor gene rearrangements that are in use in her laboratory and in the Human Immunology Core facility at the University of Pennsylvania. They will then focus on frequently asked questions and respond to other questions posed by attendees during a Q&A period.
Registration is open. Visit the AIRR Community Webinar Series website to learn more about this series, and access the recordings of past sessions.
Reconnect with the AIRR Data Commons: Your Gateway to Immunology Discoveries
The AIRR Community continues to spearhead innovation in immunology research with the ever-expanding AIRR Data Commons (ADC). For those unfamiliar, the ADC is a pioneering initiative that enables the sharing of standardized Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR) data. This resource hosts a wealth of information about the diverse array of antibody/B-cell and T-cell receptors that govern immune responses, obtained from bulk and single-cell sequencing technologies. By facilitating the exchange of this valuable data, the ADC enables researchers to gain deeper insights into immunity, disease progression, and therapeutic interventions.
From its inception in 2018 with under 400 million sequence annotations, the ADC has expanded into nine distributed repositories housing 89 studies, over 9800 sample repertoires, and an astonishing 5.2 billion sequence annotations. But this growth is not just about numbers – it’s about fostering collaboration and igniting discoveries. Scientists around the world can access a unified platform to discover, compare, and analyze immunological data, transcending the limitations of individual labs. This interconnectedness not only drives innovation but also eliminates redundancy, saving precious time and resources.
As we look to the future, the ADC is poised to play an even more pivotal role. Its flexible, collaborative framework and continued growth in data will likely attract interdisciplinary partnerships that foster a holistic understanding of the immune system’s complexities. Moreover, the integration of technologies such as machine learning and AI promise to extract deeper insights from the wealth of data, unraveling intricate mechanisms of the immune response.
The AIRR Community’s effort to build and maintain the ADC transcends geographical boundaries and institutional affiliations, exemplifying the spirit of scientific inquiry. As we celebrate the achievements thus far, we eagerly anticipate the advancements that this collaborative endeavor will bring to immunology research in the years to come.
The ADC can be searched interactively using a web user interface at the iReceptor Gateway or VDJServer Community Data Portal. To contribute to the ADC, consider setting up a local repository via the iReceptor Turnkey or submitting data through the VDJServer Community Data Portal.
September Seminar Series
The September AIRR-C seminar is fast approaching! On September 28th at 7:00 PST/10:00 EST/16:00 CET, Pieter Meysman of the University of Antwerp will be discussing the applications of TCR-epitope prediction models and Felix Drost of Helmholtz Munich will be discussing the prediction of T cell receptor functionality against mutant epitopes.
Register now! The seminar will last approximately 90 minutes.
