Zheng Xing joins College

Zheng Xing joins Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department

Zheng Xing, Ph.D., joined the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department as associate professor in February 2010. A former assistant researcher and project scientist at the University of California Davis, Xing received his Ph.D. from Cornell University.

In October 2009, as concern about the H1N1 virus spread throughout the nation, Dr. Xing and his wife, Dr. Carol Cardona, the College’s newly appointed Ben Pomeroy Chair in Avian Medicine, found that people exposed to earlier influenza viruses might have a slight immunity to H1N1. Their hypothesis suggests that an alternative method of immunity may be able to diminish the pathogenicity of the 2009 H1N1 influenza. Xing’s current research deals with molecular pathogenesis and immune responses of avian influenza virus in chickens and ducks as well as the role of macrophages and T-cells in the virus.

Xing has been the recipient of multiple awards and grants, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Food Animal Heath Award in 2006 and 2009 and a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Foreign Animal Zoonotic Disease Defense grant for 2010.

“Dr. Xing’s expertise will be integral to continuing and developing research in the biology and control of avian influenza, viral epitopes, modulation of the adaptive immune response, and the spread of zoonotic diseases to humans,” says Al Beitz, interim chair, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department.