Contact
ptessier@umich.edu
(734) 763-1486
Location
Chemical Engineering
Pharmaceutical Sciences
B10-A179 NCRC2800 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2800
Primary Website
https://tessier.lab.medicine.umich.edu/
Related websites:
https://biointerfaces.umich.edu/
https://pharmacy.umich.edu/pharmsci
Education
- Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware, 2003
- B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Maine, 1998
Research Interests
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.
Biography
Professional Experience
Albert M. Mattocks (Endowed) Professor
Departments of Chemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering and Biointerfaces Institute
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2017-present
Richard Baruch M.D. Career Development (Endowed) Professor
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 2016-2017
Richard Baruch M.D. Career Development (Endowed) Associate Professor
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 2014-2016
Alexander von Humboldt Fellow
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Martinsried, Germany, 2014-2015
Associate Professor
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 2013-2016
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 2007-2013
American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (MIT), Cambridge, MA, 2003-2007
Advisor: Susan Lindquist
Awards
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.
Publications
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]