Ralph S. Baric, PhD

About

Dr. Ralph Baric is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He has spent the past three decades as a world leader in the study of coronaviruses and is responsible for UNC-Chapel Hill’s world leadership in coronavirus research. For these past three decades, Dr. Baric has warned that the emerging coronaviruses represent a significant and ongoing global health threat, particularly because they can jump, without warning, from animals into the human population, and they tend to spread rapidly.

The Baric Lab uses coronaviruses as models to study the genetics of RNA virus transcription, replication, persistence, pathogenesis, genetics and cross-species transmission. He has used alphavirus vaccine vectors to develop novel candidate vaccines. Dr. Baric has led the world in recognizing the importance of zoonotic viruses as a potentially rich source of new emerging pathogens in humans, with detailed studies of the molecular, genetic and evolutionary mechanisms that regulate the establishment and dissemination of such a virus within a newly adopted host. Specifically, he works 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.

Ralph Baric in the Gillings News

Honors and Awards

Oliver Max Gardner Award
2021, UNC System

Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award
2021, Triangle Business Journal

William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology
2019, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Innovation Award for Faculty Research
2011, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Established Investigator Award
1994, American Heart Association

Harvey Weaver Scholar
1986, National Multiple Sclerosis Society

Research Activities

Most of the research in the Baric Lab uses coronaviruses as models to study the genetics of RNA virus transcription, replication, persistence and cross-species transmission. Dr. Baric also has used alphavirus vaccine vectors to develop novel candidate vaccines.

Zoonotic viruses represent a potentially rich source of new emerging pathogens in humans, yet little information is available concerning the molecular, genetic and evolutionary mechanisms that regulate the establishment and dissemination of such a virus within a newly adopted host. Dr. Baric's group utilizes 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.

Research Interest: Infectious Disease

Key Publications

An orally bioavailable broad-spectrum antiviral inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in human airway epithelial cell cultures and multiple coronaviruses in mice. Sheahan TP, Sims AC, Zhou S, Graham RL, Pruijssers AJ, Agostini ML, Leist SR, Schäfer A, Dinnon KH 3rd, Stevens LJ, Chappell JD, Lu X, Hughes TM, George AS, Hill CS, Montgomery SA, Brown AJ, Bluemling GR, Natchus MG, Saindane M, Kolykhalov AA, Painter G, Harcourt J, Tamin A, Thornburg NJ, Swanstrom R, Denison MR, Baric RS. (2020). Sci Transl Med., pii: eabb5883..
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Comparative therapeutic efficacy of remdesivir and combination lopinavir, ritonavir, and interferon beta against MERS-CoV. Sheahan TP, Sims AC, Leist SR, Schäfer A, Won J, Brown AJ, Montgomery SA, Hogg A, Babusis D, Clarke MO, Spahn JE, Bauer L, Sellers S, Porter D, Feng JY, Cihlar T, Jordan R, Denison MR, Baric RS. (2020). Nat Commun., 11(1):222..
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Sera Antibody Repertoire Analyses Reveal Mechanisms of Broad and Pandemic Strain Neutralizing Responses after Human Norovirus Vaccination. Lindesmith LC, McDaniel JR, Changela A, Verardi R, Kerr SA, Costantini V, Brewer-Jensen PD, Mallory ML, Voss WN, Boutz DR, Blazeck JJ, Ippolito GC, Vinje J, Kwong PD, Georgiou G, Baric RS. (2019). Immunity, 50(6):1530-1541:e8.
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Evaluation of a recombination-resistant coronavirus as a broadly applicable, rapidly implementable vaccine platform. Graham RL, Deming DJ, Deming ME, Yount BL, Baric RS. (2018). Commun Biol., 1:179..
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Broad-spectrum antiviral GS-5734 inhibits both epidemic and zoonotic coronaviruses. Sheahan TP, Sims AC, Graham RL, Menachery VD, Gralinski LE, Case JB, Leist SR, Pyrc K, Feng JY, Trantcheva I, Bannister R, Park Y, Babusis D, Clarke MO, Mackman RL, Spahn JE, Palmiotti CA, Siegel D, Ray AS, Cihlar T, Jordan R, Denison MR, Baric RS. (2017). Sci Transl Med., 9(396). pii: eaal3653..
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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).

Education