Ralph S. Baric

Ralph Steven Baric (born 1954) is William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, and professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ralph S. Baric
Born1954 (age 68–69)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNorth Carolina State University
Scientific career
FieldsEpidemiology
InstitutionsUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
ThesisInhibitors of host transcription block Sindbis virus replication (1982)
Doctoral advisorRobert E. Johnston
Doctoral studentsLisa Ellen Hensley

Baric's work involves coronaviruses, including gain of function research aimed at devising effective vaccines against coronaviruses.[1] Baric has warned of emerging coronaviruses presenting as a significant threat to global health, due to zoonosis.[2][3] Baric's work has drawn criticism from some scientists and members of the public related to chimeric virus experiments conducted at UNC-Chapel Hill.[4]

Career

Baric has published multiple articles and book chapters on the epidemiology and genetics of various viruses, including norovirus,[5][6][7] and coronaviruses,[8][9] as well as potential treatments for viral diseases.[10][11]

In 2015, with Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he published an article titled "A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence," which describes their work in generating and characterizing a chimeric virus which added the spike of a bat coronavirus (SHC014) onto the backbone of a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV (rMA15).[12] The research related to this article drew criticism from other scientists due to fears that the SHC014-rMA15 chimeric virus could have pandemic potential.[13] This concern was renewed and echoed by members of the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] Experts have noted that the virus was adapted to a mouse model and had decreased virulence in human tissues.[15] The chimeric virus was also less virulent than the wild type rMA15 virus, as is expected in most chimeras.[15]

In 2020, Baric contributed to establishing the official nomenclature and taxonomic classification of SARS-CoV-2.[16] In 2021, he was elected member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences.[17]

References
  1. "Hear from top scientist who has spent 'years' working toward a cure for coronaviruses". Msnbc.com. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  2. Schmidt, Charles (2020-06-09). "For Experts Who Study Coronaviruses, a Grim Vindication". Medscape. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  3. Rowan Jacobsen, 29 June 2021. Inside the risky bat-virus engineering that links America to Wuhan. MIT Technology Review.
  4. Butler, Declan (2015). "Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.18787. S2CID 182338924.
  5. Lindesmith, Lisa; Moe, Christine; Marionneau, Severine; Ruvoen, Nathalie; Jiang, Xi; Lindblad, Lauren; Stewart, Paul; Lependu, Jacques; Baric, Ralph (2003-04-14). "Human susceptibility and resistance to Norwalk virus infection". Nature Medicine. 9 (5): 548–553. doi:10.1038/nm860. PMID 12692541. S2CID 28663420. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  6. Teunis, Peter F.M.; Moe, Christine L.; Liu, Pengbo; E. Miller, Sara; Lindesmith, Lisa; Baric, Ralph S.; Le Pendu, Jacques; Calderon, Rebecca L. (2008). "Norwalk virus: How infectious is it?". Journal of Medical Virology. Wiley. 80 (8): 1468–1476. doi:10.1002/jmv.21237. ISSN 0146-6615. PMID 18551613. S2CID 35718373.
  7. Lindesmith, Lisa C.; Donaldson, Eric F.; Lobue, Anna D.; Cannon, Jennifer L.; Zheng, Du-Ping; Vinje, Jan; Baric, Ralph S. (2008-02-12). "Mechanisms of GII.4 Norovirus Persistence in Human Populations". PLOS Medicine. Journals.plos.org. 5 (2): e31. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050031. PMC 2235898. PMID 18271619.
  8. Graham, Rachel L.; Donaldson, Eric F.; Baric, Ralph S. (2013-11-11). "A decade after SARS: strategies for controlling emerging coronaviruses". Nature Reviews Microbiology. 11 (12): 836–848. doi:10.1038/nrmicro3143. PMC 5147543. PMID 24217413.
  9. Brian, D. A.; Baric, R. S. (2005). "Coronavirus Genome Structure and Replication". Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology. Vol. 287. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 1–30. doi:10.1007/3-540-26765-4_1. ISBN 978-3-540-21494-6. ISSN 0070-217X. PMC 7120446. PMID 15609507. S2CID 20502390.
  10. Sheahan, Timothy P.; Sims, Amy C.; Leist, Sarah R.; Schäfer, Alexandra; Won, John; Brown, Ariane J.; Montgomery, Stephanie A.; Hogg, Alison; Babusis, Darius; Clarke, Michael O.; Spahn, Jamie E.; Bauer, Laura; Sellers, Scott; Porter, Danielle; Feng, Joy Y.; Cihlar, Tomas; Jordan, Robert; Denison, Mark R.; Baric, Ralph S. (2020-01-10). "Comparative therapeutic efficacy of remdesivir and combination lopinavir, ritonavir, and interferon beta against MERS-CoV". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 222. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11..222S. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-13940-6. PMC 6954302. PMID 31924756.
  11. Sheahan, Timothy P.; Sims, Amy C.; Graham, Rachel L.; Menachery, Vineet D.; Gralinski, Lisa E.; Case, James B.; Leist, Sarah R.; Pyrc, Krzysztof; Feng, Joy Y.; Trantcheva, Iva; Bannister, Roy; Park, Yeojin; Babusis, Darius; Clarke, Michael O.; Mackman, Richard L.; Spahn, Jamie E.; Palmiotti, Christopher A.; Siegel, Dustin; Ray, Adrian S.; Cihlar, Tomas; Jordan, Robert; Denison, Mark R.; Baric, Ralph S. (2017-06-28). "Broad-spectrum antiviral GS-5734 inhibits both epidemic and zoonotic coronaviruses". Science Translational Medicine. 9 (396): eaal3653. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aal3653. ISSN 1946-6234. PMC 5567817. PMID 28659436.
  12. Menachery, Vineet D.; Yount, Boyd L.; Debbink, Kari; Agnihothram, Sudhakar; Gralinski, Lisa E.; Plante, Jessica A.; Graham, Rachel L.; Scobey, Trevor; Ge, Xing-Yi; Donaldson, Eric F.; Randell, Scott H.; Lanzavecchia, Antonio; Marasco, Wayne A.; Shi, Zhengli-Li; Baric, Ralph S. (2015). "A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence". Nature Medicine. 21 (12): 1508–1513. doi:10.1038/nm.3985. PMC 4797993. PMID 26552008.
  13. Butler, Declan (2015). "Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2015.18787. S2CID 182338924.
  14. Jacobsen, Rowan (29 June 2021). "Inside the risky bat-virus engineering that links America to Wuhan". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  15. Liu, Shan-Lu; Saif, Linda J.; Weiss, Susan R.; Su, Lishan (1 January 2020). "No credible evidence supporting claims of the laboratory engineering of SARS-CoV-2". Emerging Microbes & Infections. 9 (1): 505–507. doi:10.1080/22221751.2020.1733440. PMC 7054935. PMID 32102621.
  16. Coronaviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2020). "The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus : classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2". Nature Microbiology. 5 (4): 536–544. doi:10.1038/s41564-020-0695-z. PMC 7095448. PMID 32123347. S2CID 211729429.
  17. "News from the National Academy of Sciences". April 26, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2021. Newly elected members and their affiliations at the time of election are: ... Baric, Ralph S.; William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor, department of epidemiology, and professor, department of microbiology and immunology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, entry in member directory:"Member Directory: Ralph S. Baric". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2021-11-27.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Ralph S. Baric.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.