Xi Jason Jiang, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Xi Jiang graduated from School of Public Health, Shanghai First Medical University in Shanghai, China, in 1978. He joined graduate school in Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA and earned a Ph. D. degree in molecular virology in 1988. He then joined Dr. Mary Estes’ laboratory in Baylor and worked on research of norovirus (NoV) as a post-doctor in 1988. He moved to the Center for Pediatric Research in the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, as an Assistant Professor in 1992 and an Associate Professor in 1998, continuing working on NoV research. He joined the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati, in Cincinnati, Ohio, as an Associate Professor in 2001 and then Professor in 2004 continuing his research on NoVs and rotaviruses to update.

Dr. Jiang was the first to obtain a NoV clone for the prototype Norwalk virus (NV). Following the cloning of NV, he made several first: the first RT-PCR for detection of NoVs, first recombinant NoV VLPs in baculovirus, first EIAs for detection of NoV antigens and antibodies using reagents derived from NoV VLPs. These new diagnostic assays significantly expanded our understanding on the genetic and antigenic diversity and epidemiology of NoVs in different populations. In the beginning of 2000, he was one of the first researchers in discovery of human NoVs recognizing human histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) as receptors and made significant contribution in elucidation of the diversity of NoV recognition of polymorphic HBGAs, including resolving the crystal structures of a number of human NoVs in interaction with HBGAs in collaboration with their research partners. Recently, his group made another important discovery that human rotaviruses (RVs) also recognize human HBGAs as receptors, opening a new direction in studying RV-host interaction, host range, and evolution. In addition, his group developed valuable vaccine platforms for presentation of foreign antigens or small peptides for immune enhancement for vaccine development against NoV, RVs, influenza viruses and other viral and bacterial pathogens. He has published over 230 papers on NoV and RV researches in peer-reviewed journals. He has been a NIH funded researcher since 1996 and is the Principal Investigator (PI) of many grants from the NIH, DOD, USDA and different organizations and industries.