Dr. Zeli Zhang did his bachelor's and master's studies at Northeast Forestry University from 2008 to 2014. He then received Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Düsseldorf in Germany in 2018. From 2018 to 2022, he was trained as a postdoctoral at the Sanford-Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. In the spring of 2023, Dr. Zhang joined Westlake University as an Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Vaccine immunology and Infectious disease.

Dr. Zhang has extended research experience in infectious disease (SARS-CoV2, LCMV, HIV, and Influenza) and immunology, focusing on how host innate immunity and adaptive immunity control viral infection, how vaccines induce T cells, B cell immune memory, and neutralizing antibodies, and developing novel vaccines. The main scientific achievements are as follows: 1）Innovatively compared human adaptive immune responses induced by four COVID-19 vaccines; elucidated that the CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immunity induced by these four COVID-19 vaccines can cross-recognize different variants; discovered for the first time that natural infection or Ad26.COV2.S vaccination can induce higher Spike-specific CXCR3 memory B cells. 2）Demonstrated that a structural-based engineered LCMV neutralizing antibody M28 prophylactically and therapeutically prevents LCMV-cl13-induced chronic infection. 3）Discovered that human A3H-II protein restricted the replication of SIVcpz, demonstrated that A3H-I protein was unstably expressed and lacked the SIVcpz restriction capacity, and proposed a model that A3H-II restricted the cross-species transmission of SIVcpz.

Our lab at Westlake University will utilize the virology and immunology methods, combined with Single-Cell-Omics and structural biology technical, focusing on coronaviruses and influenza viruses, to do the following studies (but not limited): 1）Investigate the mechanism of vaccine-induced durable T cell, B cell and neutralizing antibody response. 2）The effect of antigen imprinting or original antigenic sin on the vaccine-induced immune response. 3）Develop neutralizing epitope-targeting vaccines. 4）Use in vitro high-throughput drug screening, small molecular self-nano assembly, and in vivo Tfh and GC B cell response validation technology to develop Nano adjuvant.

* Equally contributed.

1. Zhang, Z.*, Mateus, J.*, Coelho, C.H.*, Dan, J.M.*, Moderbacher, C.R.*, Gálvez, R.I., Cortes, F.H., Grifoni, A., Tarke, A., Chang, J., Escarrega, E.A., Kim, C., Goodwin, B., Bloom, N.I., Frazier, A., Weiskopf, D., Sette, A., Crotty, S. Humoral and cellular immune memory to four COVID-19 vaccines. Cell. (2022). 

2. Tarke, A.*, Coelho, C.H.*, Zhang, Z.*, Dan, J.M.*, Yu, E.D., Methot, N., Bloom, N.I., Goodwin, B., Phillips, E., Mallal, S., Sidney, J., Filaci, G., Weiskopf, D., Antunes, R. da S., Crotty, S., Grifoni, A., Sette, A. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination induces immunological T cell memory able to cross-recognize variants from Alpha to Omicron. Cell. (2022). 

3. Moon-Walker, A.*, Zhang, Z.*, Zyla, D.S., Buck, T.K., Li, H., Avalos, R.D., Schendel, S.L., Hastie, K.M., Crotty, S., Saphire, E.O. Structural basis for antibody-mediated neutralization of Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. BioRxiv. (2022).

4. Mateus, J., Dan, J.M.*, Zhang, Z.*, Moderbacher, C.R., Lammers, M., Goodwin, B., Sette, A., Crotty, S., Weiskopf, D. Low-dose mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine generates durable memory enhanced by cross-reactive T cells. Science. (2021). 

5. Zhang, Z., Perković, M., Gu, Q., Balakrishnan, K., Sangwiman, A., Häussinger, D., Lindemann, D., Münk, C. HIV-2 Vif and foamy virus Bet antagonize APOBEC3B by different mechanisms. Virology. (2021).

6. Zhang, Z., Gu, Q., Montero, M. de M., Bravo, I.G., Marques-Bonet, T., Häussinger, D., Münk, C. Stably expressed APOBEC3H forms a barrier for cross-species transmission of simian immunodeficiency virus of chimpanzee to humans. Plos Pathogens. (2017).

7. Zhang, Z., Gu, Q., Vasudevan, A.A.J., Hain, A., Kloke, B.-P., Hasheminasab, S., Mulnaes, D., Sato, K., Cichutek, K., Häussinger, D., Bravo, I.G., Smits, S.H.J., Gohlke, H., Münk, C. Determinants of FIV and HIV Vif sensitivity of feline APOBEC3 restriction factors. Retrovirology. (2016).

8. Zhang, Z.*, Gu, Q.*, Vasudevan, A.A.J., Jeyaraj, M., Schmidt, S., Zielonka, J., Perković, M., Heckel, J.-O., Cichutek, K., Häussinger, D., Smits, S.H.J., Münk, C. Vif Proteins from Diverse Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Lineages Have Distinct Binding Sites in A3C. J Virol. (2016).

9. Gu, Q.*, Zhang, Z.*, Ortiz, L.C., Franco, A.C., Häussinger, D., Münk, C. Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Vif N-Terminal Residues Selectively Counteract Feline APOBEC3s. J Virol. (2016).

10. Zhang, Z.*, Ma, J.*, Zhang, X., Su, C., Yao, Q.-C., Wang, X. Equine Infectious Anemia Virus Gag Assembly and Export Are Directed by Matrix Protein through trans-Golgi Networks and Cellular Vesicles. J Virol. (2016).

For a complete publication list please visit: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Giup75AAAAAJ&hl=en

Email: zhangzeli@westlake.edu.cn

The research group is under preparation. People who are interested in infectious disease and immunology are welcome to join! Applicants with professional backgrounds in virology, immunology, bioinformatics, structural biology, single-cell omics, chemistry, etc., are welcome. Postdoctoral, doctoral candidates, research assistants, and other positions are available. We also welcome interns and visiting scientists to join and communicate with us.