She attended a Waters HPLC school for separation of proteins. As a undergraduate research assistant she had the opportunity of presenting three scientific papers at professional meetings. Elda has also taught freshman and senior level biology labs and is an excellent laboratory instructor. Research Interest Antibodies are proteins created in response to foreign molecules in vertebrate animals. Monoclonal antibodies have an affinity for a single epitope which are produced by a clone of cells.
Monoclonal antibodies can be important in neutralizing venom in snakebite victims.
The interaction of an antibody with an antigen forms the essence of all immunochemical techniques. The domain of an antigen that interacts with an antibody is defined as an epitope. An epitope is not an intrinsic property of any specific structure, as it is defined only by reference to the binding site of an antibody. Because antibodies can recognize relatively small regions of venom molecules, occasionally they can find similiar epitopes on venoms. This forms the molecular basis for cross-reaction.