Horacio Bach

Dr. Horacio Bach is a researcher at the Immunity and Infection Research Centre and a clinical assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of British Columbia. His current research interests include mechanism elucidation of virulence factors of members of the pathogenic Mycobacterium group and understanding how intracellular microorganisms subvert the host and successfully establish infections. He also is interested in understanding the role of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in inflammatory bowel diseases, which is suspected to be involved in Crohn's disease in humans. Through clinical collaborations, he has found the presence of anti-Mycobacterium paratuberculosis antibodies in patients with Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Bach’s laboratory is engaged in multiple projects to design single-chain antibodies using a proprietary library from human cells. His team is engaged in developing single-chain antibodies to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the causative of COVID-19. These neutralizing antibodies are applied intranasally, targeting the viruses before infection. In addition, they are developing new antimicrobial agents based on nanoparticles to treat multidrug-resistant pathogens, including intracellular bacteria.

Read more about Dr. Bach's recent research here.