The Society’s Communication and Membership Committee is glad to announce that:
Eva Smorodina (University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway) is the winner of our Imaging Calendar Competition! 
Congratulations!

The Imaging Calendar Competition ran from April 1st to July 15th 2024 and was open to all members. Participants submitted a high-resolution image with a brief explanation of the research behind it and the scientific method. This year we accepted both wet-lab and in-silico originated images.

Based on the results of our online poll, the winning image is “Getting closer to binding with every step” by Eva Smorodina (University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Norway)

Image description: The image represents different levels of complexity surrounding antibody-antigen binding. We start from a more general understanding of the interaction kinetics with SPR, then identify the global binding site with cryo-EM, refine the region with HDX-MS to achieve peptide-level resolution, and move forward towards residue- and atom-wise resolution with computational techniques like docking and molecular dynamics. All these steps give us a better understanding of the structural rules behind antibody-antigen binding.

Antibodies used: Trastuzumab in complex with HER2

Instrument used: PyMOL, FoldX, IgFold

The winner will receive:

• broad exposure of their work,
• a $400 cash prize,
• and the option of a free registration to: 1) Schrödinger’s online course, Introduction to Computational Antibody Engineering; 2) virtual Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics; or 3) 1 year subscription to the Oxford Global Plus platform.

The winning image will be featured as the cover image for the 2025 volume of mAbs, and also as the cover image of the calendar. The calendar will be distributed at the 2024 Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics, in San Diego, in December.

We are also glad to reveal the scientists behind the other short-listed images. These images will be included as well in The Antibody Society 2025 calendar, one every month.

Stefania Vilbois (University of Lausanne, Switzerland): Intravital mouse melanoma.

Jessica Anania (University of Southampton, UK): Follicular Dendritic Cell Organization in Germinal Centers for Immune Memory.

Andrew O’Connor (University of Southampton, UK): Inflammation in the mouse cochlea.

Rodrigo García Valiente (Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands): Clonal fireworks.

Danielle Fails (Fortis Life Sciences, USA): Cells in Focus.

Shaoli Lin (National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA): Therapeutic antibody targeting GPC3 in liver cancer.

Suzanne Buss (University of Southampton, UK): Astrocytes – helping protect our brain.

Anthony Cheung (King’s College London, UK): Antibody-drug conjugates trigger microvesicle release ahead of endosomal internalization.

Alicia Chenoweth (King’s College London, UK): Heterogeneity of melanoma.