Dr. Barik received his PhD in Biochemistry from Bose Institute, India, and emigrated to the United States in 1982 for postdoctoral training at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington. In 1989, he moved to the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, and was promoted to assistant staff in 1992. Two years later, he joined the University of South Alabama, College of Medicine, where he has been tenured professor since 2003. His research interests encompass biological signaling; the role of chaperones in protein folding; and infectious diseases. His discoveries, relevant to the MJFF project, include: the heat shock protein 90 of the malaria parasite, and its essentiality and interaction with parasitic calcineurin; a unique FKBP chaperone in the same parasite; and a novel chimeric chaperone in a related parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, the agent of systemic toxoplasmosis. Dr. Barik is a Scientific Founder of Sirnaomics, a Lions-USA Eye Researcher, and a member of the Editorial Board of BMC Microbiology.