University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · BiologyETEC Vaccine Development Unit
Weiping Zhang · Champaign, Illinois
Research Focus
Dr. Weiping Zhang's lab focuses on developing a novel vaccine called MecVax to combat diarrheal diseases caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), which significantly affects children in developing countries. The lab's long-term goal is to create effective vaccines against major bacterial pathogens to reduce childhood mortality and improve health outcomes. This promising vaccine aims to offer broad protection by targeting multiple ETEC components, making it a significant advancement in public health.
vaccine developmentETECchildren's healthdiarrheapublic healthimmunologybiomedical engineering
Research Aims
5AIM 01Develop a multivalent subunit vaccine for ETEC called MecVax.
AIM 02Evaluate the protective efficacy of MecVax against ETEC adherence and enterotoxicity.
AIM 03Optimize vaccine formulation and analytical development for MecVax.
AIM 04Manufacture and test master cell banks for vaccine production.
AIM 05Prepare a pre-IND application for MecVax.
Skills the Lab Values
vaccine formulationprotein engineeringanimal modelsimmunological assaysbuffer preparationanalytical method optimizationcell culturedata analysiscollaboration with industrial partners
Output against the department
Publications412top 11% of dept.118th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations10ktop 37% of dept.380th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.