Ralph S. Baric

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Ralph S. Baric
Born1954 (age 70–71)
Nationality American
Alma mater North Carolina State University
Scientific career
Fields Epidemiology
Institutions University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Thesis Inhibitors of host transcription block Sindbis virus replication  (1982)
Doctoral advisor Robert E. Johnston
Doctoral students Lisa Ellen Hensley

Ralph Steven Baric (born 1954) is an American epidemiologist. He is the 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.

Contents

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]

Selected publications

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. 80 (8). Wiley: 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. 5 (2) e31. Journals.plos.org. 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. 1 2 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.
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