Back to the People with Nicole Shanahan

Defending the Human Body in an Engineered Age, feat. Annelise Barron

September 17, 2025·1h 20m
Episode Description from the Publisher

Annelise E. Barron is the W.M. Keck Associate Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University. Her lab focuses on human host defense peptides (antimicrobial peptides), particularly LL-37, studying their biophysics, mechanisms of infection defense, and roles in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The group also develops biostable peptoid mimics of LL-37 as potential therapeutics for antibiotic-resistant infections, including neurological, respiratory, and ocular diseases. Past work includes creating mimics of lung surfactant proteins for pneumonia treatment and ventilator-associated lung injury prevention.Dr. Barron’s research extends to the pathogenic mechanisms of COVID-19 and the links between innate immunity, metabolic health, and susceptibility to viral and polymicrobial infections. She is broadly interested in systems-level analyses of complex human diseases.She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington, Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral work at UCSF and Chiron Corp. She joined Stanford in 2007 after a decade on Northwestern University’s faculty. Her awards include the NIH Pioneer Award (2020), Oskar Fischer Award (2022), PECASE (1999), Beckman Young Investigator Award (1999), and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1998). She has published over 177 papers (H-index: 58) and co-founded five biotechnology companies. With gratitude to our sponsors: RA Opticshttps://raoptics.com/bttpUse Code: BTTP-----Sky Horse Publishinghttps://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/-----Sign Uphttps://www.backtothepeople.net Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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