Sign in

David Gfeller

@dgfeller.bsky.social
330 followers 16 following 44 posts

Fascinated by computational biology applied to cancer immune cell recognition

PostsRepliesMedia
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Happy the share our latest perspective on T-cell epitope recognition predictions for cancer immunotherapy: rdcu.be/fdKu6
rdcu.be
Advances in predicting T cell epitope recognition for cancer immunotherapy
Nature Cancer - Gfeller et al. discuss the recent technological and computational advances in prediction of TCR–epitope recognition and the therapeutic applications in cancer immunotherapy.
031
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
A big thank you to Harari group for their help with the experiments, and to Dana Moreno, Yan Liu, Julien and Giancarlo Croce for the contributions to the data analyses.
010
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
These results are fully consistent with our recent observation that a tool treating independently each TCR chain reaches similar or better prediction accuracy compared to other, often much more complex, TCR-epitope interaction predictors (see TEMPO: github.com/GfellerLab/T...).
github.com
GitHub - GfellerLab/TEMPO: TCR-epitope motif-based interaction predictor
TCR-epitope motif-based interaction predictor. Contribute to GfellerLab/TEMPO development by creating an account on GitHub.
110
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Applications of these results to unseen epitopes in the IMMREP competition show how we can generate training data for a cost of ~400$ per epitope with the SEQTR protocol [Genolet et al. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37159666/], instead of the ~2000$ required for single-cell TCR-seq.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
TCR sequencing and cloning methods for repertoire analysis and isolation of tumor-reactive TCRs - PubMed
T cell receptor (TCR) technologies, including repertoire analyses and T cell engineering, are increasingly important in the clinical management of cellular immunity in cancer, transplantation, and other immune diseases. However, sensitive and reliable methods for repertoire analyses and TCR cloning …
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Our results across several benchmarks and for hundreds of epitopes demonstrate that disregarding the pairing between TCR chains in the training of TCR-epitope recognition predictors has no impact on their performance, and that predictors can be trained on unpaired TCRb + TCRa sequences.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Here we address the question of how much information is encoded in the actual pairing between TCR chains, and whether unpaired TCRa + TCRb sequencing of epitope-specific T cells could be used for training predictors of TCR-epitope recognition.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Studies by us [Liu et al, www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... and others [Springer et al. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33981311/] have demonstrated that the TCR alpha and TCR beta chains play a central (and on average equal) role in epitope recognition.
biorxiv.org
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
T-cell recognition of infected or cancer cells is elicited by the binding of heterodimeric TCRs to antigenic peptides displayed on MHC molecules.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Happy to share the work of Aisha Shah about training predictors of TCR-epitope recognition with unpaired TCRa + TCRb sequences: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6....
biorxiv.org
152
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Kudos to @dtadros.bsky.social for developing this website
000
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
In our hands, the TCR Specificity Profile framework (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.17.688817v1) is not only central for understanding the key determinants of TCR-epitope recognition, but also to assess quality and reproducibility in new data.
biorxiv.org
110
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Interested in understanding how epitope recognition specificity is encoded in your TCR sequences? Try our new interactive page for building TCR specificity profiles on the TCR Motif Atlas: tcrmotifatlas.unil.ch/Building_mot....
tcrmotifatlas.unil.ch
Building Motifs
154
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
SuperCell2.0 is available at github.com/GfellerLab/S...
github.com
GitHub - GfellerLab/SuperCell at supercell-2.0
Coarse-graining of large single-cell RNA-seq data into metacells - GitHub - GfellerLab/SuperCell at supercell-2.0
010
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Thanks to precious help from @benoitduc.bsky.social and @johannajoyce.bsky.social, the proposed markers for this population could be validated, thereby paving the way to further functional characterizations.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Applying this approach to large multimodal atlases from blood and tumor samples identifies interferon-primed monocytes and macrophages in the circulation and in the tumor microenvironment
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
With SuperCell2.0, Leonard Herault shows how multimodal metacells can help reduce the size and sparsity of single-cell multiomic datasets, while preserving, and even sometimes enhancing, the biological information.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Single-cell multiomic datasets are getting larger and larger in numbers of cells, but the measurements for each cell remain as sparse as 10 years ago...
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Happy to share the beautiful manuscript of Leonard Herault: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
254
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
The fact that most CDR3 residues are determined by V/J choices (including many that directly contact the epitope in crystal structures) is fully consistent with our recent observation that epitope recognition specificity is primarily encoded in V/J usage (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...).
biorxiv.org
Key determinants of T cell epitope recognition revealed by TCR specificity profiles
Interactions between T-Cell Receptors (TCRs) and antigenic peptides presented on Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules are central to the immune recognition of infected and malignant cells....
010
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
We then leveraged these results for quality assessment of TCR repertoire data by monitoring inconsistencies between CDR3 and V/J gene annotation. This analysis revealed different sources of noise in repertoires of TCRs of both undetermined and known specificity.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Similarly, batch effects resulting in different V/J gene usage across TCR repertoires will lead to apparent enrichment in specific CDR3 motifs or k-mers.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
This has important consequences for interpreting CDR3 sequence patterns. For instance, any constrain in CDR1/CDR2 residues (e.g., recognition of a specific epitope) will impact multiple residues in CDR3 sequences.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Our results demonstrate that CDR3 length is strongly influenced by the number of germline-encoded CDR3 residues in V and J genes, and that on average 80% of CDR3α and 65% of CDR3β residues are determined by V and J gene usage.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Here we precisely quantify the impact of V/J choices on CDR3 length and amino acid composition.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
CDR3 loops are known to mediate important interactions with the epitope. For this reason, many (most?) studies have focused on CDR3 sequences when analyzing TCR repertoires.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
TCR repertoires are characterized by a very high sequence diversity resulting from different choices of V (D) and J genes and rearrangements taking place at the V(D)J junction within the CDR3 loops.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Very proud of the work of Dana Moreno about statistical modelling of CDR3 sequences in TCR repertoires: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6....
biorxiv.org
Statistical modelling of CDR3 sequences provides robust quality control for TCR repertoire datasets
T-Cell Receptors (TCRs) show extensive sequence diversity across T cells. This diversity arises from different choices of V and J genes and from insertions and deletions at the V(D)J junction within t...
130
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Nice results: rdcu.be/eTNVr. Looks like the decision to develop specific ML models of TCR-epitope interactions for each epitope was a reasonable choice.
rdcu.be
Assessing data size requirements for training generalizable sequence-based TCR specificity models via pan-allelic MHC-I point-mutation ligandome evaluation
Scientific Reports - Assessing data size requirements for training generalizable sequence-based TCR specificity models via pan-allelic MHC-I point-mutation ligandome evaluation
010
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
For those who followed the IMMREP25 competition and are interested in understanding how specificity was encoded for each epitope, check our TCR Motif Atlas IMMREP25 page: tcrmotifatlas.unil.ch/Browse_epito...
tcrmotifatlas.unil.ch
Model Motif Atlas
000
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
A huge thank you to all collaborators, including Yan Liu, Giancarlo Croce, Dana Moreno, Daniel Tadros, Julien Racle, Anne-Christine Thierry, Petra Baumgartner, Alexandra Michel, Vincent Zoete and Alexandre Harari
000
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
The associated TCR-Epitope Motif-based interaction Predictor (TEMPO) can be accessed at github.com/GfellerLab/T... and can score a million TCRs in one minute on a standard CPU.
github.com
GitHub - GfellerLab/TEMPO: TCR-epitope motif-based interaction predictor
TCR-epitope motif-based interaction predictor. Contribute to GfellerLab/TEMPO development by creating an account on GitHub.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
The TSP for hundreds of epitopes can be explored at the TCR Motif Atlas (tcrmotifatlas.unil.ch/home), including many sequence, length and MHC restriction variants of an immunodominant epitope.
tcrmotifatlas.unil.ch
TCR Motif Atlas
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Most of this work is based on experimentally identified TCRs, but we also we demonstrate that TSPs can be approximated with AlphaFold3 by scoring baseline TCR repertoires and focusing on the best scoring TCRs, thereby paving the way for in silico sorting of epitope-specific TCRs.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
This does not mean that CDR3 sequences are not important for epitope recognition. Instead it reflects that a large fraction of CDR3 residues (including many directly contacting the epitope in X-ray structures) are determined by V/J usage.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
In particular, our results demonstrate that much of the specificity in TCR-epitope recognition is encoded in V/J usage, with many epitopes showing up to ten-fold enrichment in specific V or J genes.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
We show that TSPs unravel key determinants of TCR-epitope recognition specificity, predict cross-reactivity and reveal how TCR specificity evolves with epitope sequence, binding mode and MHC restriction.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Here we introduce a fully interpretable framework, called TCR Specificity Profiles or TSPs, to model TCR-epitope recognition.
100
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Recent developments in machine learning and structure-based approaches (e.g., AF3) are revolutionizing TCR-epitope interaction predictions. However, interpreting such predictions to understand how specificity is encoded in TCR sequences remains challenging.
110
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Very happy to share our latest manuscript about TCR-epitope recognition specificity: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
245
Reposted by David Gfeller
Santiago Carmona 🧬 🖥️ 🧑🏾‍🔬 @carmonation.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Cool paper on scRNA T cell annotation. However, a note for ProjecTILs users: I wouldn’t rely on the ProjecTILs benchmark in this work, as it was run using a mouse reference map to classify human T cells (even though human CD4/CD8 T cell maps are available github.com/carmonalab/P...)
github.com
GitHub - carmonalab/ProjecTILs: Interpretation of cell states using reference single-cell maps
Interpretation of cell states using reference single-cell maps - carmonalab/ProjecTILs
051
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Beautiful work and very useful resource!
020
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Interested in unraveling specificity in epitope recognition by TCRs and KIRs in the context of graft-versus-host diseases. We have an open post-doc position in the group. Do not hesitate to share the word.
063
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Happy to share the great work of Giancarlo Croce: Phage display enables machine learning discovery of cancer antigen–specific TCRs | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Phage display enables machine learning discovery of cancer antigen–specific TCRs
Phage display and machine learning join forces to identify cancer-specific TCRs.
0133
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Call for abstract open at BC2 2025: bc2.ch/talks-poster...
bc2.ch
Call for talks and posters
The [BC]2 Basel Computational Biology Conference is Switzerland's main event in the domain of Computational Biology and one of the major events of its kind in Europe. The conference unites scientists ...
021
David Gfeller @dgfeller.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Matei Teleman's SuperSpot paper out in Bioinformatics: academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
academic.oup.com
SuperSpot: Coarse Graining Spatial Transcriptomics Data into Metaspots
AbstractSummary. Spatial Transcriptomics is revolutionizing our ability to phenotypically characterize complex biological tissues and decipher cellular nic
030