XJ Meng

My research interests include emerging, re-emerging and zoonotic viruses. I have published more than 340 peer-reviewed scientific papers, review articles, and book chapters, and my publications have been cited more than 29,000 times with an h-index of 89 according to Google Scholar (as of Sept. 2020). The Thompson Scientific’s Institute for Scientific Information Essential Science Indicators ranked me in the top one percent of highly-cited scientists in the world in the field of Microbiology, based on total citations from 1997 to 2007.

More specifically, my research focuses on delineating the mechanisms of viral replication and pathogenesis and developing vaccines against emerging viruses including hepatitis E virus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, and SARS-CoV-2. Since 1999, I have been awarded over $23 million in research funding as principal investigator and over $30 million as co-principal investigator. I have been awarded more than 22 U.S. patents, and my inventions led to development of commercial licensed vaccines on the global markets.

I received my medical degree in China, and doctorate in immunobiology from Iowa State University. Prior to joining the faculty at Virginia Tech in 1999, I was a senior staff scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Currently, I am a University Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic and Arthropod-borne Pathogens at Virginia Tech.