HAvI&Ib group, originally Gene and Molecular Targeting Research Group of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Department (Director, Prof. Zaixin Liu), is one of twelve Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (ASTIP) groups in LVRI, affiliated with CAAS, MOA of P. R. China. As one of the important components of OIE/China National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory (CNFMDRL) and State Key Laboratory on Veterinary Etiological Biology (SKLVEB), HAvI&Ib group inherits and carries forward the scientific ideals of the renowned virologist of Mr. Qingge Xie, to conducting research in the mechanism of animal virus infection and the host antiviralimmunity. The current leaders of HAvI&Ib group are Professor Zaixin Liu (Senior Chief, Deputy Director of OIE/CNFMDRL) and Professor Zengjun Lu (Principal Investigator).

　　Members of HAvI&Ib Group

　　Existing staff group includes four professors (3 Ph.D., 1 B.A), five associate professors (4 Ph.D., 1 M.S.), four assistant professors (3 Ph.D., 1 M.S.), three temporary research assistants (1 M.S., 2 B.A), two worker for laboratory sanitization and glassware preparation, and one financial assistant. HAvI&Ib group now supervises two doctoral candidates, nine postgraduate students, three visiting graduate students, one training scholar, and five guest researchers from company.

　　Development goals of HAvI&Ib Group

　　HAvI&Ib group predominantly focuses on foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) and porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), to elucidate the immunology features of cattle and swine antiviral infection, viral RNA and protein structure-activity relationship, regulation mechanism of the host immune response and viral antigen presentation, thereby provide novel insights into creating new molecular vaccines and diagnostics reagents.

　　Research interests of HAvI&Ib Group

　　In more detail, HAvI&Ib group mainly involved in several viral pathogens of veterinary importance, such as FMDV, PRRSV, PPV (porcine parvovirus), PCV (porcine circovirus), CoV (coronavirus), ASFV (African swine fever virus), BVDV (bovine viral diarrhea virus), CSFV (classical swine fever virus), CHIKV (Chikungunya virus) and SV (Seneca virus) etc, based on Reverse genetics, DCs and T/B lymphocyte technique platform, and antibody library, to carry out basic research and applied research.

　　1.Antigen Presentation and DC-targeted Immunology in Livestock

　　Explore the specialty of the immune system and immunobiology of swine and bovine to provide clues for the design of new type molecular antigen and targeted antigen presentation.

　　1)Isolation and Identification of DC Subsets (cDC1, cDC2, pDC);

　　2)Antigen across-presentation;

　　3)Broad-neutralizing Antibodies;

　　4)Strategy for Improvement of Adaptive Immune Responses;

　　5)Antiviral Infection (immunosuppression and immune escape).

　　2.Molecular Basis of Viral Pathogenesis and Immunologic Mechanism

　　Study on the function of viral proteins and non-coding RNA related to FMDV and PRRSV infection to better understand the virus-host interaction and the immune mechanism of host antiviral infection for development of the novel antiviral strategy.

　　1)Entry Pathway (viral cycle life, especially in interaction with capsid proteins with cellular receptors, internalization, autophagy and apoptosis, etc.);

　　2)Host Tropsim (swine) and Persistent Infection (bovine);

　　3)Virulence (bottleneck effect);

　　4)Quasispecies (genetic diversity and recombination);

　　5)lncRNA;

　　6)Mixed Infection.

　　3.Development of Diagnostic Reagents and Vaccines

　　Resolve the antigenic structure of viruses for development of the effective immunological preparations, such as negative maker virus vaccines and epitope-based vaccines.

　　1)Vaccines: (inactive and marker vaccines, epitope-based vaccine, and adenovirus-vectored vaccines);

　　2)Differentiation Diagnosis: (indirect and blocking ELISA, dot-blotting and immunochromatographic strip etc);

　　3)Preparation of Mabs;                                          

　　4)Virus-like Particles.

　　National Cooperation and International Activities of HAvI&Ib Group

　　1.Research and Development of Bio-products

　　1)China Agricultural Vet. Bio. Science and Technology Co., LTD (Lanzhou): Inactive and Marker Vaccines, Epitope-Based Vaccine; Supplement Diagnosis.

　　2)Tianjin Vet. Bio-pharmaceutical LLC (Tianjin): Epitope-Based Vaccine, Supplement Diagnosis.

　　3)Lanzhou Bio-pharmaceutical Factory, China Animal Husbandry Industry Co., Ltd (Lanzhou): Inactive and Marker Vaccines, Supplement Diagnosis.

　　4)Inner Mongolia Bi Wei Antai (BIGVET) Biotech Co., Ltd (Hohhot): Inactive and Marker Vaccines.

　　5)Xinjiang Tiankang Animal Husbandry and Biotechnology Co., LTD (Urumqi): Inactive and Marker Vaccines.

　　6)Beijing Inno-Vac Bio-technology Co., LTD (Beijing): Diagnostic Reagents.

　　2.Academic Exchanges

　　1)Research Cooperation and Continuing Education of Ph.D. students and post-graduates: Lanzhou University, Wuhan University, Tsinghua University, Central South University, China Institute of Veterinary Drugs Control, Pasteur Institute of CAS (Shanghai), Hong Kong Baptist University, other universities (Germany and Spain) etc.

　　2)Academic exchanges: Agricultural University of Athens (GRE), Karolinska Institute (SWE), University of East Anglia (UK), University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of California Davis (USA), etc.

　　Achievements of HAvI&Ib Group

　　1)Awards: national level 3 (1997, 1999, 2000), ministerial level 2 (1998), provincial level 2 (Gansu, 2009; Henan, 2015), CAAS 1 (2008).

　　2)Patents: obtained 16, pending 8.

　　3)Certificates: 3 veterinary biologics.

　　4)Income: over 38996337.5 RMB by technology transfer and products provided.

　　5)Publications: over 51 SCI articles.

　　6)Training: over 26 Master and Ph.D. students graduated.