1.  9420 Athena Circle
La Jolla, CA 92037
A user enters the html
form and clicks the
submit button. This
begins EETT.
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EETT queries NCBI, a
database that contains
ebolavirus protein
sequences, and retrieves
those sequences
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EETT finds conserved
epitopes by comparing the
epitope sequences and the
ebolavirus sequences.
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By Mong H. Ng
Mentors: Dr. Sinu Paul, Dr. Ward Fleri, Dr. Bjoern Peters,
Dr. Sergei L. Kosakovsky Pond
Against Ebola:
Epitopes are the protein
sequences on the antigens that
are recognized by immune system.
Conserved Epitope are epitopes that are
present in both the old strain and the
new strain; in other word, the new
strain “conserves” that epitope.
The Sign of Our Enemy
Having little or no checking
mechanism in genetic material
duplication, pathogens like
ebolavirus have high mutation
rates and can quickly adapt to
their environment. One major
reason that they are so hard to
fight against is because as new
strain arises, past information
about the virus may no longer be
pertinent. The Ebolavirus Epitope
Tracking Tool (EETT) is created to
meet such need. By identifying
conserved epitopes, as well
predicting new possible epitopes,
the tool allows researchers to
quickly gather information about a
new strain of ebolavirus.
Introduction
EETT predicts new epitopes
through IEDB MHC binding
prediction tool. Predicted
epitopes are possible candidates
of epitope, but they are not
proven to be yet.
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AAGIAWIPY
GLAKAAGIAWIPYRGF
AAGIAWIPY
AYLARGIRAKWIKPY
Ebolavirus Epitope Tracking Tool
Major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
are the proteins on a cell that recognize
the epitopes. They are the guards with
eagle-eyes for enemy. When
they do find an epitope, they
start an immune response.
MHC: Our Ally
In face of ebolavirus outbreak, EETT can bring immediate impact upon the real world. Through it
researchers can identify the epitopes (the weakness of a virus) and react to the outbreak more quickly.
Summary
EETT queries IEDB, a
database that stores all the
epitopes, and retrieves the
known epitopes (they are
confirmed in wet lab).
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• National Center for Biotechnology
Information (NCBI) : A collection of
databases that include valuable
biological resources. The tool uses
the protein database, which
contains thousands and thousands
of protein sequences.
• Immune Epitope Database (IEDB):
This database contains tables with
known epitopes. The tool query the
“epitope_list” table to retrieve a list
of epitope sequences.
• IEDB Analysis Resource: This is a
collection of tools for epitopes. Our
tool uses the MHC I and MHC II
binding prediction tools to predict
new possible epitope on a given
ebolavirus sequence.
Technology in the Making
Epitope
Epitope sequence
Ebolavirus sequence