Baric elected to American Academy for Microbiology
| February 23, 2010 | |
Dr. Ralph Baric
Ralph Baric, PhD, professor of epidemiology at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has been elected to the American Academy for Microbiology. He will be recognized at the Academy Fellows luncheon in San Diego on May 26, 2010. The American Academy of Microbiology is the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, the world’s oldest and largest life science organization. The mission of the Academy is to recognize scientists for outstanding contributions to microbiology and provide microbiological expertise in the service of science and the public.
Baric’s groundbreaking research focuses on coronaviruses, including SARS, and on noroviruses.
He was awarded a Gillings Innovation Lab in 2008 aimed at developing a single-dose vaccine, delivered intranasally, for infants and children in the developing world. The vaccine will have a shorter production cycle than current vaccines (which can take up to a year to culture). This is critical in fighting emerging diseases.
His research team wants to find a low-cost, multivalent single-dose vaccine that is stable at room temperature, all of which is important if the vaccine is to be administered in developing countries.
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
