This simulation demonstrates how B cells in a germinal center accumulate random mutations and are then selected for antigen-binding affinity across repeated rounds, showing how average antibody quality rises over time.
Run successive rounds of mutation and selection, watch low-affinity clones get eliminated by simulated apoptosis, and track how the surviving population's average affinity climbs toward the higher end of the 100 to 1000-fold improvement range.
Adjust the mutation rate, selection pressure, and number of germinal center rounds to see how each factor shapes the final antibody affinity.
A single germinal center reaction can cull the large majority of the B cells it produces, meaning most of the antibody variants generated during an infection never make it to become memory cells or plasma cells.
This simulation demonstrates how B cells in a germinal center accumulate random mutations and are then selected for antigen-binding affinity across repeated rounds, showing how average antibody quality rises over time.
This simulation demonstrates how B cells in a germinal center accumulate random mutations and are then selected for antigen-binding affinity across repeated rounds, showing how average antibody quality rises over time.
Run successive rounds of mutation and selection, watch low-affinity clones get eliminated by simulated apoptosis, and track how the surviving population's average affinity climbs toward the higher end of the 100 to 1000-fold improvement range.
A single germinal center reaction can cull the large majority of the B cells it produces, meaning most of the antibody variants generated during an infection never make it to become memory cells or plasma cells.