Alissa Hummer

About

I am a DPhil student in the Oxford Protein Informatics Group, University of Oxford developing machine learning methods for in silico antibody design. I am broadly interested in protein design, machine learning applications to biology, and biotech entrepreneurship.

Education

2020-2024

DPhil in Statistics

University of Oxford

Machine learning for antibody design

2019-2020

MPhil in Molecular Biology

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge, UK

Integrative computational analysis of GPCR-RAMP interactions

2015-2019

MBiochem in Biochemistry

University of Oxford, UK

Awarded first class degree

Research & Publications

Primary research interests:

Structure-based protein design
Protein-protein interactions
Immunoinformatics
Machine learning

Current and past research projects:

Machine learning for antibody design
DPhil, University of Oxford (2020-present)

Supervisor: Prof Charlotte Deane

Integrative computational analysis of GPCR-RAMP interactions
MPhil, MRC LMB & University of Cambridge (2019-2020)

Supervisor: Dr Madan Babu

Molecular dynamics simulations for bacterial peptidoglycan biosynthesis
MBiochem, University of Oxford (2018-2019)

Supervisor: Prof Phill Stansfeld

Cell-free detection of neglected tropical disease, Chagas disease
Team Co-Leader, Oxford iGEM Team (2017)

Awarded prize for Best Diagnostics Project

CRISPR-Cas9 engineering of liver cancer cells for immunotherapy research
Summer Intership, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (2016)

Supervisor: Dr Mitchell Ho

Publications

Hummer, A.M.*, Abanades B.* and Deane, C.M. Advances in computational structure-based antibody design. Current Opinions in Structural Biology 74: 102379 (2022).

Marks, C., Hummer, A.M., Chin, M. and Deane, C.M. Humanization of antibodies using a machine learning approach on large-scale repertoire data. Bioinformatics 37(22): 4041–4047 (2021).

Bolla, J.R., Corey, R.A., Sahin, C., ..., Hummer, A.M., ..., Stansfeld, P.J., Robinson, C.V., Landreh, M. A Mass-Spectrometry-Based Approach to Distinguish Annular and Specific Lipid Binding to Membrane Proteins. Angewandte Chemie 59(9): 3523-3528 (2020).

Li, D., Li. N., Zhang, Y.F., ..., Hummer, A.M., ..., Ho, M. Persistent Polyfunctional Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells That Target Glypican 3 Eliminate Orthotopic Hepatocellular Carcinomas in Mice. Gastroenterology 158(8): 2250-2265 (2020).

*Equal contribution

Blog Posts

Selected blog posts I've written for the Oxford Protein Informatics Group Blog, BLOPIG (full list here):

Biotech Entrepreneurship

Nucleate Oxford, Co-Managing Director
(2022-present)

Leading the development of the Oxford chapter of Nucleate, an international student-run organization that facilitates the formation of pioneering life sciences companies
Have grown Oxford leadership team from 2 to >25 in 1 year
Key focus is supporting students/postdocs spin out their research into companies – Nucleate Activator
Additional focuses include planning events to bolster the Oxford biotech entrepreneurship community, as well as research to better understand the ecosystem

Oxford University Biotech Society, President (2021-2022)

Led committee of 9 students in organising events promoting diversity and entrepreneurship in biotech
Organised events including "Careers in Biotech", "Women in Biotech" and "Diversity in Biotech" with speakers from various backgrounds
Ran 8-week biotech ideation programme (Catalyse Oxford) with team formation, mentorship and pitching events - led to the formation of 3+ startups between the 2021 and 2022 cohorts
Raised >£8,000 in sponsorship as well as 3-month lab space prize