{"id":1449,"date":"2026-03-06T09:32:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/?post_type=internship&#038;p=1449"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:12:15","slug":"dissecting-the-metabolic-state-of-differentiating-b-cells-with-multi-omics-single-cell-analysis","status":"publish","type":"internship","link":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/?internship=dissecting-the-metabolic-state-of-differentiating-b-cells-with-multi-omics-single-cell-analysis","title":{"rendered":"DISSECTING THE METABOLIC STATE OF DIFFERENTIATING B CELLS WITH MULTI-OMICS SINGLE-CELL ANALYSIS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The generation of long-lasting high affinity antibodies is one of the core pillars of our immune system ensuring life-long protection against infection. Dysregulation of this process can cause severe pathological conditions, such as alloimmunization during blood transfusions or self-reactivity in auto-immune disease. &nbsp;High affinity antibodies are formed as product of a <em>germinal center<\/em> (GC) reaction, in which activated B cells proliferate and differentiated into antibodies-secreting cells (ASC). Understanding the exact mechanisms controlling this process within the GC is fundamental to devise strategies to modulate antibodies formation in both health and disease<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the past Sars-CoV2 pandemic we had the unique opportunity to investigate B cell differentiation dynamics in human settings by specifically analyzing Sars-CoV2 spike-specific B cells isolated from infected individuals or individuals undergoing mRNA vaccination. In particular, we generated a multi-omics single-cell dataset containing more than 40\u2019000 spike-specific B cells from 24 individuals at three timepoints after vaccination of which we analyzed transcriptome, surface protein expression and B-cell receptor (BCR) sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this project we will use our multi-omics single cell dataset to investigate how metabolism impacts B cell differentiation into ASC. It is already known that metabolic changes are key to the generation of ASC, as extensive metabolic reprogramming is needed in differentiating B cells to sustain the massive antibody production carried out by ASC. Additionally, ASC can be short-lived or long-lived; while it is still unknown which mechanisms determine the longevity of ASC, some have hypothesize that metabolism might play a central role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your task within this project will be to analyze the metabolic state of our spike-specific B cells. You will evaluate different published computational approaches to obtain metabolic state information from single-cell transcriptomic data. Finally, you apply the best performing methodology to compare the metabolic state in the different B cell subsets identified within our dataset. Knowledge of R\/Phyton is required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1449","internship","type-internship","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/internship\/1449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/internship"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/internship"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bdagroup.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}