Join us for “A novel vaccinology platform & animal models for multivalent precision vaccines against enteric bacteria” a keynote presentation by Dr. Weiping Zhang, College of Veterinary Medicine-Pathobiology, MMI,  MizzouForward faculty candidate.  Dr. Zhang will present on his research for approximately 40-minutes with a 20-minute question and answer session to follow.

Dr. Weiping Zhang is a Professor of Bacteriology/Vaccinology in the Pathobiology Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Veterinary Medicine.  He received his BS and MS education in China, and his PhD training at Iowa State University, and was trained as a molecular biologist, a microbiologist, and a vaccinologist. 

Dr. Zhang’s program focuses on diarrheal disease pathogenesis studies and multivalent vaccine research and development, especially of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC).  By studying the molecular pathogenesis of individual enterotoxins produced by ETEC using a gnotobiotic (germ-free) piglet model, he determined the virulence significance of each toxin in ETEC diarrheal disease and developed a pig challenge model for ETEC vaccine development.  By applying toxoids as safe vaccine antigens and using a genetic fusion strategy to enhance immunogenicity of small-sized poorly immunogenic toxins, his laboratory generated safe toxoid fusion antigens to induce protective antibodies against the key ETEC enterotoxins including heat-stable toxin STa, an achievement hailed as a breakthrough in ETEC vaccine development.  Recently, his research team has developed an epitope- and structure-based vaccinology platform called multiepitope-fusion-antigen (MEFA) to construct broadly protective polyvalent protein antigens and develop multivalent vaccines against ETEC-associated porcine post-weaning diarrhea (PWD), children’s diarrhea, and travelers’ diarrhea.  Additionally, his team uses various animal models and collaborates with other prominent vaccine development programs to develop multivalent vaccines against other enteric bacterial pathogens including Vibrio cholerae and Shigella spp.  His research program has been largely funded by NIH, USDA-NIFA, and private funding agencies including PATH. 

The innovative toxoid fusion antigen strategy has solved a half-century-long roadblock in ETEC vaccine development, an achievement hailed as a major breakthrough that leads to the development of truly broadly protective ETEC vaccines. The novel epitope- and structure-based multiepitope fusion antigen (MEFA) vaccinology platform revolutionizes the construction of broadly immunogenic polyvalent antigens and the development of cross-protective multivalent precision vaccines, potentially overcoming a key challenge in vaccine development - pathogen or virulence heterogeneity. The development of combination vaccines against different diseases not only lowers vaccine costs and simplifies clinical administration but also eases the increasingly crowded EPI (expanded program for immunization).

You can access Dr. Zhang’s CV via OneDrive here:

CURRICULUM VITAE--- Zhang (updated).pdf (University log in required to access)

After the keynote, please provide candidate feedback with our brief survey.