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Yu Zhang, PhD

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Yu Zhang is originally from China. He received his PhD in Virology at The Ohio State University. He joined Dr. John Williams' lab in 2016 as a postdoc fellow. His research interest is to understand how interactions between respiratory viruses and the immune system contribute to viral protection and clinical disease. His long term goal is to develop safe and effective vaccines and anti-viral drugs against pediatric respiratory pathogens.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships

  • Fellow of OSU Center for RNA Biology
  • Member of American Society for Virology (ASV)
  • Member of North American Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Symposium (PRRS)
  • Member of International Association for Food Protection (IAFP)
  • Member of Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)
  • Member in Gamma Sigma Delta, the International Honor Society of Agriculture

Education & Training

  • BS, East China University of Science and Technology, 2006
  • PhD, The Ohio State University, 2014
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Ohio State University, 2016
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2016

Selected Publications

Xu J, Zhang Y, Williams JV, Development and optimization of a direct plaque assay for trypsin-dependent human metapneumovirus strains, J Virol Methods. 2018 May 25

McMichael T, Zhang Y, Kenney A, Zhang L, Lu M, Chemudupati M, Li J, Yount J. Opposing roles of endosomal innate immunity proteins IFITM3 and TLR7 in human metapneumovirus infection, (J Infect Dis., 2018 Oct 5;218(10):1582-1591)

Cai H, Zhang Y, Lu M, Liang X, Jennings R, Niewiesk S, Li J. Phosphorylation of human metapneumovirus M2-1 protein upregulates viral replication and pathogenesis, Journal of Virology. 2016 Jul 27;90(16):7323-7338

Ma Y, Zhang Y, Liang X, Oglesbee M, Krakowka S, Neihaus A, Wang G, Jia A, Song H, Li J. Two-way antigenic cross-reactivity between porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and porcine deltacoronavirus, Vet Microbiol. 2016 Apr 15; 186:90-6

Ma Y, Zhang Y, Liang X, Lou F, Oglesbee M, Krakowka S, Li J. 2015. Origin, evolution, and virulence of a novel porcine deltacoronavirus in the United States. mBio 2015: 6(2)

Cai H, Zhang Y, Ma Y, Sun J, Liang X, Li J. Zinc binding activity of human metapneumovirus M2-1 protein is indispensable for viral replication and pathogenesis in vivo. Journal of Virology. 2015 89(12):6391-405

Zhang Y, Wei Y, Zhang X, Cai H, Niewiesk S, Li J. Rational design of human metapneumovirus live attenuated vaccine candidates by inhibiting viral mRNA cap methyltransferase. Journal of virology. 2014 88:11411-11429.

Zhang Y, Niewiesk S, Li J. Small Animal Models for Human Metapneumovirus: Cotton Rat is More Permissive than Hamster and Mouse. Pathogens. 2014 3(3):633-655.

Sun J, Wei Y, Rauf A, Zhang Y, Ma Y, Zhang X, Shilo K, Yu Q, Saif YM, Lu X, Yu L, Li J. Methyltransferase-Defective Avian Metapneumovirus Vaccines Provide Complete Protection against Challenge with the Homologous Colorado Strain and the Heterologous Minnesota Strain. Journal of virology 2014 88:12348-12363.

Wei Y, Zhang Y, Cai H, Mirza AM, Iorio RM, Peeples ME, Niewiesk S, Li J. 2014. Roles of the putative integrin-binding motif of the human metapneumovirus fusion (f) protein in cell-cell fusion, viral infectivity, and pathogenesis. Journal of virology. 2014 88:4338-4352.

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed