Herbivores are not only the main source of high quality of milk and meat, but also the major income for the survival of small farm/low income rural producers in Western China. At present, China has more than 5 hundred million of sheep and nearly 200 million of cattle. In recent years, with the rapid development of livestock industry and farming methods, viral diseases in herbivorous animals are becoming increasingly serious, causing economic loss to animal producers and public health concern.

　　Research Aims

　　The aims are to understand the mechanisms viral interaction with their hosts and consequences in relation to pathogenesis, immune response and transmission. The information obtained will then be exploited to the development of improved or novel vaccines and diagnostic tool for effective control of viral diseases in Herbivores and sustainable production.

　　The viral pathogens we currently study include foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus, sheep and goat pox virus, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) virus, LSDV and orf virus.

　　Research Focus

　　Pathogenesis of viral diseases with emphasizing on understanding viral and cellular mechanisms of virus entry and how the virus causes cell death;

　　Anti-virus immune response with emphasizing on identifying and characterizing interaction of host with viral factors resulting in immune evasion and immunesuppression;

　　Development of novel diagnostic tool and DVIA vaccine.

　　Member of Staff

　　Team leader : Professor Zhidong Zhang，National “1000 talents plan” Professor，National Distinguished Expert.

　　Senior Investigators：Drs Qiang Zhang, Youjun Shang, Zhiyong Li ,Yongxi Dou, Xiangping Yin，Xuelian Meng，Guangxiang Wang;

　　Investigators：Drs Xiaodong Qin, Guohua Wu , Guozheng Cong, Jinyan Wu, Xinmin Yan, Xueliang Zhu, Zhixun Zhao, Yang Yang.

　　Funding

　　Research is supported by Funding coming from numerous sources including the MOST, MOA, NSFC, CASS innovation fund, State Key Laboratory on Veterinary Etiological Biology and LVRI core fund.