Imagining the Next Flu Pandemic – and Preventing it!
11:50 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.
The William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education
Dr. Barbara K. Rimer
11:45-11:50 a.m.
Host and Moderator: Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, Dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor, Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill
11:50 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.
“Imagining the Next Flu Pandemic – and Preventing it!”
Ralph Baric, PhD, Professor, Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health; Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine; UNC-Chapel Hill
Dr. Ralph Baric
Ralph Baric, PhD, presides over one of the leading labs in the world and works on infectious diseases such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, Dengue Fever and influenza, among others. In particular, Dr. Baric and his research team specialize in coronaviruses and emerging infections. He uses coronaviruses as models to study the genetics of RNA virus transcription, replication, persistence and cross-species transmission. Dr. Baric received the Innovation Award for Faculty Research at UNC in 2011, the Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association in 1994 and was selected as a Harvey Weaver Scholar by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Dr. Baric uses molecular, genetic and biochemical approaches to decipher the complex interactions between the virion and cell surface molecules that function in the entry and cross-species transmission of positive-strand RNA viruses.
Selected publications:
- MERS-CoV and H5N1 influenza virus antagonize antigen presentation by altering the epigenetic landscape. Menachery VD, Schäfer A, Burnum-Johnson KE, Mitchell HD, Eisfeld AJ, Walters KB, Nicora CD, Purvine SO, Casey CP, Monroe ME, Weitz KK, Stratton KG, Webb-Robertson BM, Gralinski LE, Metz TO, Smith RD, Waters KM, Sims AC, Kawaoka Y, Baric RS (2018). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(5), E1012-E1021.
- Neutralization mechanism of a highly potent antibody against Zika virus. S Zhang, V Kostyuchenko, T Ng, X Lim, J Ooi, S Lambert, T Tan, D Widman, J Shi, R Baric, S Lok (2016). Nature communications, 7.
- SARS-like WIV1-CoV poised for human emergence. V Menachery, B Yount, A Sims, K Debbink, S Agnihothram, L Gralinski, R Graham, T Scobey, J Plante, S Royal, J Swanstrom, T Sheahan, R Pickles, D Corti, S Randell, A Lanzavecchia, W Marasco, R Baric (2016). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
- A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence. V Menachery, B Yount, K Debbink, S Agnihothram, L Gralinski, J Plante, R Graham, T Scobey, X Ge, E Donaldson, S Randell, A Lanzavecchia, W Marasco, Z Shi, R Baric (2015). Nature medicine, 21(12), 1508-13.
- Broad Blockade Antibody Responses in Human Volunteers after Immunization with a Multivalent Norovirus VLP Candidate Vaccine: Immunological Analyses from a Phase I Clinical Trial. Lisa Lindesmith, Martin Ferris, Clancy Mullan, Jennifer Ferreira, Kari Debbink, Jesica Swanstrom, Charles Richardson, Robert Goodwin, Frank Baehner, Paul Mendelman, Robert Bargatze, Ralph Baric (2015). PLoS Medicine, 12(3).
12:25-12:40 p.m.
Moderated questions/discussion and wrap-up
