Céline Laumont
PhD student in Molecular Biology
Université de Montréal
Award-winning publication: Global proteogenomic analysis of human MHC class I-associated peptides derived from noncanonical reading frames
Published in: Nature Communications
Abstract
Our immune system identifies and eliminates abnormal and infected cells based on the protein fragments—known as peptides—on their surface. Céline Aumont has developed a new approach to distinguish cryptic peptides, which differ from conventional ones and have properties that make it possible to accurately associate them with certain tumours. Her findings could eventually serve to enhance cancer immunotherapy treatments by effectively targeting tumour cells that present cryptic peptides and destroying them without impacting the healthy cells.