Christopher Barnes

Background

About Christopher Barnes

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."​ - Albert Einstein Over the past 15 years working in numerous capacities as a scientist, I have enjoyed the challenges associated with biomedical research. Driven by my love for science and passion for mentoring, I strive to solve difficult challenges, which demand innovation and collaborative efforts. Now as a newly-appointed Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University, my research group will leverage interdisciplinary approaches to address fundamental principles of viral-host interactions for therapeutic benefit. We combine biophysical and structural methods with in vivo approaches to understand how enveloped viruses infect host cells and elicit immune responses. In particular, our research translates knowledge of the structural correlates of antibody-mediated neutralization into the development of highly protective antibodies and therapeutic reagents. A related goal of our research is to identify conserved epitopes on viral glycoproteins that are recognized by neutralizing antibodies to facilitate structure-based immunogen design for candidate vaccines against coronaviruses and HIV-1. With structural information and improved biochemical methods to mask distracting epitopes, pan-neutralizing vaccines that protect against emerging and re-emerging viral threats are attainable.