Peter M. Tessier

• Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware, 2003
• B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Maine, 1998

The Tessier lab aims to develop best-in-class therapeutic antibodies and apply them to address multiple key biomedical challenges:

1. Conformational antibodies that selectively recognize protein aggregates for detecting and treating neurodegenerative disorders
2. Brain-targeted bispecific antibodies for detecting and treating neurological disorders
3. Agonist antibodies that activate T cells for treating cancer
4. Neutralizing antibodies for treating COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
5. Potent antibody-drug conjugates for treating cancer

To accomplish this, we develop next-generation technologies for designing, discovering, engineering, characterizing, formulating and delivering therapeutic antibodies. Our technology development efforts are focused in three main areas:

1. Protein engineering and directed evolution
2. Biomolecular screening and high-throughput characterization
3. Machine learning and computational predictions

Our interdisciplinary research program uses experimental and computational approaches for generating new fundamental insights into protein structure and function, molecular origins of protein-protein interactions, and molecular determinants of key antibody properties (stability, solubility, specificity and affinity). Our development of novel high-throughput screening and machine learning methods is focused on discovering therapeutic antibody candidates with drug-like properties.

Academic Honors

• Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2018
• Young Investigator Award, Biochemical Engineering Journal, 2016
• Young Investigator Award, Division of Biochemical Technology, American Chemical Society, 2015
• Young Scientist Award, World Economic Forum (Tianjin, China), 2014
• Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, 2014-2015
• National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2010-2015
• Pew Scholar Award in Biomedical Sciences,  2010-2014
• Rensselaer Dept. of Chemical & Biological Engineering Teaching Award, 2014
• Rensselaer School of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, 2013
• Rensselaer Early Career Award, 2012
• Rensselaer School of Engineering Research Excellence Award, 2012
• Allan P. Colburn Lectureship, Univ. of Delaware, 2012
• American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2004-2007
• NASA Graduate Fellowship, 1999-2002
• Co-Valedictorian, Univ. of Maine, 1998

For a more complete list of Professor Tessier’s honors and awards and for additional information, please see his CV.

Select Journal Publications

• Starr, C.G., Makowski, E.K., Wu, L., Berg, B., Kingsbury, J.S., Gokarn, Y.R., Tessier, P.M., “Ultra-dilute measurements of self-association for the identification of antibodies with favorable high concentration solution properties”, Mol Pharm, 18, 2744 (2021). [link]
• Zupancic, J.M., Desai, A.A., Schardt, J.S., Pornnoppadol, G., Makowski, E.M., Smith, M.D., Kennedy, A.A., Barbosa, M.G.M, Cascalho, M., Lanigan, T.M.,  Tai, A.W., Tessier, P.M., “Rapid directed evolution of potent neutralizing nanobodies against SARS-CoV-2 using CDR-swapping mutagenesis”, Cell Chem Biol, 28, 1 (2021). [link]
• Desai, A.A., Smith, M.D., Zheng, Y., Makowski, E.K., Gerson, J.E., Ionescu, E., Starr, C.G., Zupancic, J.M., Moore, S.J., Sutter, A.B., Ivanova, M.I., Murphy, G.G., Paulson, H.L., Tessier, P.M., “Rational affinity maturation of anti-amyloid antibodies with high conformational and sequence specificity”, J Biol Chem, 296, 100508 (2021). [link]
• Zhang, Y., Wu, L., Gupta, P., Desai, A.A., Smith, M.D., Rabia, L.A., Ludwig, S.D., Tessier, P.M.,“Physicochemical rules for identifying monoclonal antibodies with drug-like specificity”, Mol Pharm, 17, 7 (2020). [link]
• Julian, M.C., Rabia, L.A., Desai, A.A., Arsiwala, A., Gerson, J.E., Paulson, H.L., Kane, R.S., Tessier, P.M.,“Nature-inspired design and evolution of anti-amyloid antibodies”, J Biol Chem, 294, 8438 (2019). [link]
• Rabia, L.A. Zhang, Y., Ludwig, S.D., Julian, M.C., Tessier, P.M., “Net charge of the complementarity-determining regions is a key predictor of antibody specificity”, Protein Eng Des Sel, 31, 409 (2018). [link]
• Julian, M.C., Li, L., Garde, S., Wilen, R., Tessier, P.M., “Efficient affinity maturation of antibody variable domains requires co-selection of compensatory mutations to maintain thermodynamic stability”, Sci Rep, 7, 45259 (2017). [link]
• Wu, J, Schultz, J.S., Weldon, C.L., Sule, S.V., Chai, Q., Dickinson, C.D., Tessier, P.M., “Discovery of highly soluble antibodies prior to purification using affinity-capture self-interaction nanoparticle spectroscopy”, Protein Eng Des Sel, 28, 403 (2015). [link]
• Sule, S.V., Dickinson, C.G., Lu, J., Chow, C.-K., Tessier, P.M., “Rapid analysis of antibody self-association in complex mixtures using immunogold conjugates”, Mol Pharm, 10, 1322 (2013). [link]
• Perchiacca, J.M., Ladiwala, A.R.A., Bhattacharya, M., Tessier, P.M., “Aggregation-resistant domain antibodies engineered with charged mutations near the edges of the complementarity-determining regions”, Protein Eng Des Sel, 12, 591 (2012). [link]
• Perchiacca, J.M., Ladiwala, A.R.A, Bhattacharya, M.B., Tessier, P.M., “Structure-based design of conformation- and sequence-specific antibodies against amyloid b“, P Natl Acad Sci U S A, 109, 84 (2012). [link]
• Perchiacca, J.M., Bhattacharya, M., Tessier, P.M., “Mutational analysis of domain antibodies reveals aggregation hotspots within and near the complementarity determining regions”, Proteins, 79, 2637 (2011). [link]