Kathleen Pratt, Ph.D.

1976 BA Liberal Arts, The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
1984 BS Mathematical Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1992 PhD Biophysical Chemistry, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Kathleen Pratt received her PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from Cornell University, in the laboratory of Harold A. Scheraga. As a postdoctoral fellow and staff scientist she determined crystal structures of blood coagulation proteins, including the C2 domain of factor VIII (FVIII), which binds to activated platelet surfaces. Her laboratory has utilized mutagenesis plus surface plasmon resonance to comprehensively map the B-cell epitopes on this important region of the FVIII protein. Over the past decade, they have also mapped immunodominant T-cell epitopes in FVIII and characterized human CD4 T-cell responses using blood samples from hemophilia A patients who develop neutralizing anti-drug antibodies to therapeutically administered FVIII. Her laboratory is currently pursuing studies of protein immunogenicity, immune tolerance, protein engineering, and novel approaches to avoid or reverse the effects of clinically important anti-drug antibodies.