UC EVENTS

The impact of infectious diseases on human societies has never been better shown in the current COVID-19 pandemic. As a virologist previously working in a flagship hospital dedicated to managing infectious diseases in Shanghai, I directly participated in the fight against several outbreaks.  We identified the rapid emergence of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) resistance in the 2013 H7N9 Avian Influenza genome.  My recent work in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic also unraveled viral and host factors related to the disease outcome and suggested the earliest transmission paths in the initial Wuhan outbreak.   Finally, I will talk about my long-term research focus, Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) which plagues around 250 million people worldwide. I will briefly introduce my spatially-resolve analysis of HBV infection. In addition, we identified a novel form of incomplete viral particle which may play a key role in the pathogenesis of this disease.

Associate Professor Xiaonan Zhang

Xiaonan Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology at UC. Before joining UC in March 2021, Dr. Zhang was the principal investigator in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center (SHAPHC) at Fudan University. He is also the committee member of the Chinese Medical Association, Medical Virology branch. Dr. Zhang mainly focuses on clinic-oriented molecular biology and translational medicine of Hepatitis B Virus. He developed novel in situ assays for detection of HBV nucleic acids including cccDNA and uncovered unexpected molecular entities that encapsidate HBV RNA in blood circulation. Besides, he is also involved in the molecular virology and antiviral development against emerging infectious diseases such as H7N9 influenza, enteroviruses and SARS-CoV-2. He led his group in deciphering the viral and host factors related to the clinical outcome of COVID-19 in 2020. He has co-authored over fifty peer-reviewed research articles and published a series of high impact papers as first or corresponding author in journals such as Nature, Lancet, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Virology etc.