Structural virology / Structure-based vaccine design mclellanlab.org Professor of Molecular Biosciences The University of Texas at Austin Opinions are my own and not the views of my employerhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3mjiwlgfx6c23My daughter was invited on stage to help Neil deGrasse Tyson @neildegrassetyson.com post a Tweet!15 Apr 2026 03:16 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjiwlgfx6c23https://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3mg43hz67v22zOur fourth installment on prefusion herpesvirus gB proteins is available as a preprint: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.02.23.707514. Working with Ivelin Georgiev's group, we isolated and characterized prefusion-specific HSV gB antibodies from humans!02 Mar 2026 20:23 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg43hz67v22zhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3mdgnbibtcs2wOur third installment on prefusion stabilization of herpesvirus gB proteins is available as a preprint: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.26.701809. A great collaboration with colleagues at Merck. Our prefusion HSV-2 gB protein adopts a more closed conformation than has been observed for HSV-1 gB in recent papers.27 Jan 2026 20:52 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdgnbibtcs2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3mbdaabaswc2sNew Year's Eve Red Wings game with the family!01 Jan 2026 01:31 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbdaabaswc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3m5cppswf722gExcited for Adam Klivans and my other colleagues at UT working in the AI space! [contains quote post or other embedded content]10 Nov 2025 22:54 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5cppswf722ghttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3m4jjr65ut22kHappy Halloween! My daughter is dressed as Hornet from Silksong, the game I've spent 60 hours playing the past two months31 Oct 2025 22:31 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3m4jjr65ut22khttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3m2pgj3pq4c2nI'm honored to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. As always, I extend my sincerest thanks to all my wonderful mentors, colleagues, collaborators, admins, and trainees who make this work possible. #MacFellow [contains quote post or other embedded content]08 Oct 2025 19:59 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2pgj3pq4c2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lwrjvtxpuc2eOur preprint, in collaboration with Rino Rappuoli & Emanuele Andreano, is out! Co-led by colleagues at TLS, my grad student Ling Zhou @lingzhou.bsky.social, and postdoc Emily Rundlet @cryoemily.bsky.social, we identified OPG153 as a poxvirus bnAb target via B cell isolation & AlphaFold3 prediction.19 Aug 2025 18:24 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwrjvtxpuc2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lrv7kxe32c2nOur latest preprint is now available https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.17.660152! Led by my postdoc, Luqiang Guo @luqiang.bsky.social, we determined a ~2.4 A resolution structure of the hantavirus glycoprotein tetramer on the surface of VLPs. Also determined structures of dimers of tetramers and Fab-bound tetramers.18 Jun 2025 14:24 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lrv7kxe32c2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lpmp7ckkls2hCheck out our latest study, led by grad student Ryan McCool @rmccool.bsky.social‬, in collaboration with Vaccine Company. We were able to stabilize EBV gB in the prefusion conformation, determine its cryo-EM structure to 3.1 A, and assess its immunogenicity in mice. https://www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2025.05.19.654955v120 May 2025 18:19 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpmp7ckkls2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lph3nmypak2nGetting ready for the Viruses and Cells GRC in Castelldefels18 May 2025 12:46 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lph3nmypak2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lolxtxueuk2bNew exhibit at the National Inventors Hall of Fame 👀07 May 2025 17:56 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lolxtxueuk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lnmecro2lk24Very cool! https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01269-825 Apr 2025 04:14 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnmecro2lk24https://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3ll7kye7vtc2dWe just had our first grant terminated. This was a U19 AViDD grant (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AI-21-050.html). It was set to end next month, although many in the consortia were hoping for NCEs.25 Mar 2025 15:18 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3ll7kye7vtc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lehxtkqx7s2cTaking the family to their first Red Wings game!29 Dec 2024 21:33 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lehxtkqx7s2chttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3ldratcnscc25Congratulations Elizabeth! Great collaborative effort with our colleagues Kartik Chandran, Andrew Herbert, Stephanie Monticelli and more! [contains quote post or other embedded content]20 Dec 2024 20:43 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldratcnscc25https://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lcnqdyzrfs2eRegister now to hear some cool vaccine science! I'll be speaking at this conference, so come hang out!06 Dec 2024 17:45 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcnqdyzrfs2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lc5kfztphc2hTime for a name change?30 Nov 2024 07:16 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lc5kfztphc2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lbzpkm42ck2wLet's go Lions!28 Nov 2024 18:37 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbzpkm42ck2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3latxzflw2s2zMy graduate student Nasim Abdi just won 2nd place for her poster at the International Conference for Pandemic Preparedness in Trieste, Italy! www.pathogen-ri.eu/conference/. Great collaboration with @drjimmydale.bsky.social at Houston Methodist🤝13 Nov 2024 18:28 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3latxzflw2s2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lapwpgl2r223Austin now has some Michelin-rated restaurants! https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/michelin-guide-ceremony/michelin-guide-texas-stars-green-stars-sustainability12 Nov 2024 03:53 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lapwpgl2r223https://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lbnypp4caq2rACL Music Festival! Teddy Swims on stage.12 Oct 2024 21:59 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbnypp4caq2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lbnypq4ryk2sCheck out our pre-print describing a CCHFV glycoprotein complex in the pre-fusion conformation! We used several engineering tricks to design our final construct, GP38-GnH-DS-Gc. Great collaborative effort, led by graduate student @Eliza4Science!...22 Apr 2024 19:18 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbnypq4ryk2shttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lbnypqmm5i2rView from Austin, TX08 Apr 2024 18:47 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbnypqmm5i2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lbnyps5c4v23Saw Road House with the cast at SXSW!09 Mar 2024 03:16 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbnyps5c4v23https://bsky.app/profile/mclellanlab.bsky.social/post/3lbnyptugft2nPromising results for a third PreF-based RSV vaccine: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa230707914 Dec 2023 15:10 +0000at://did:plc:r5cwahu5obkcjyj5fuaccc2l/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbnyptugft2n