Welcome to the Representation Matters Speaker Series hosted by SEAS!
Structural characterization of antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination by mRNA
Dr. Christopher Barnes is a native North Carolinian who completed his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, double majoring in Chemistry (BS) and Psychology (BA), while also playing D-I football as a wide receiver for the Tar Heels. He later earned a Masters in Chemistry at UNC before moving on to earn his PhD in Molecular Pharmacology from the University of Pittsburgh - School of Medicine. It was during his doctoral work that Dr. Barnes begin to develop the structural tools necessary to understand, at the atomic level, how proteins interact with one another. In 2017, he moved to southern California to begin his work as a postdoctoral fellow. Currently, Dr. Barnes is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Dr. Pamela Bjorkman at the California Institute of Technology. Here, Dr. Barnes investigates the structural correlates of antibody-mediated neutralization of HIV-1 and more recently, SARS-CoV-2. Using powerful imaging techniques, his work provides a better understanding of how viruses work to infect our cells and how our body’s immune system responds to viral infections. By understanding these interactions, Dr. Barnes designs antibody therapies, as well as protein-based vaccine regimens. With extensive training and well over 20 publications in some of the top journals worldwide, Dr. Barnes will soon look to start his own lab as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University, in pursuit of new therapies and vaccine candidates against zoonotic viruses, including HIV-1, a virus that still reeks havoc in communities of color around the world.
View the recording of Dr. Barnes’ presentation here! (Oxy credentials are required)
Best,
The CATALYST x BEARs Team