Annelise Barron, Ph.D.
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Affiliation(s):
Stanford University; Stanford School of Medicine
ORCID URL:
Areas of Interest:
Human innate immune system-associated peptides
Biography & Research:
My research interests are in two areas:
(1) Molecular and cellular biophysics of human innate immunity, with a focus on the pleiotropic roles of host defense peptides and amyloidogenic peptides in human health and disease, including infectious disease, cancer, and plaque diseases.
(2) Design, synthesis, and biophysical studies of sequence-controlled, biomimetic oligomers (synthetic peptide mimics) with helical structures, for biomedical and biomaterial applications (mimicry of antimicrobial and anticancer innate immune peptides; lung surfactant proteins).
According to our recent findings, dysfunctional innate immune responses in humans and other mammals involving infection-, injury-, or stress-related dynamic imbalances between particular, potently cytotoxic host defense peptides we study, and pro-amyloid / fibrillogenic peptides including ABeta and IAPP, may play a role in the poorly understood etiology of chronic / progressive plaque diseases, including psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, diabetes type II melittus, atherosclerosis, and particularly, Alzheimers Disease. All of these diseases involve inflammation and plaque accumulation.
The latter disease, Alzheimers, is in need of a major breakthrough in fundamental understanding, more than almost any human disease currently under study. Of a total of 250+ clinical trials initiated by big pharma towards the development of anti-Alzheimers drugs, ~99.6% of these trials have failed. There is no current, effective treatment. Obviously, the most fundamental ideas for what drives Alzheimers may be flawed.
My lab is testing novel mechanistic hypotheses of Alzheimers etiology, based on recent, unique molecular biophysical observations of pro-amyloid and innate immune peptides.
