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Details of the Faculty or Staff
Name  
 Hua-Tang Zhang
Title  
  
Highest Education 
   Professor
Address  
 Kunming Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences No. 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming, Yunnan, 650223, P.R.China
Phone  
   +86 871 5120435
Zip Code  
   650223
Fax  
   +86 871 5123775
E-mail  
   zhanght@post.kiz.ac.cn

Education and Appointments：
Principal Investigator
Hua-Tang Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.
Education and Research Positions
2005 – present: Professor   Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
2001 – 2005: Senior Research Scientist   University of Oxford, UK
2000 – 2001: Senior Research Associate   University of Cambridge, UK
1997 – 1999: Senior Research Fellow   Imperial Cancer Research Fund, UK
1994 – 1997: Group Leader   Oxford Bioresearch Laboratory, UK
1991 – 1994: Ph.D. (Biology)   University of Oxford, UK
1988 – 1991: Research Associate   Harbin Medical University, China
1987 – 1988: Research Assistant   Harbin Medical University, China
1984 – 1987: MSc (Immunology)   Harbin Medical University, China
1983 – 1984: Physician   Qingyuan Hospital, China
1978 – 1983: MD/BSc (Medical Sciences)   Harbin Medical University, China

Research Interest：

Established in March 2005, we are one of several newly established and fast growing laboratories in the Institute and the Key Laboratory. We investigate immunological and biological mechanisms and therapies of viral infections, such as HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and vaccines. We have excellent laboratory facilities in the brand new laboratory for molecular cell biology and immunology studies and enjoy a comprehensive range of core services provided by the Institute that serve to underpin the research activities using model animals.
Public Services：

Honors：
Selected Publication：
1. Zhang P, Li D, Stewart-Jones G, Shao X, Zhang Y, et al. (2009) A single amino acid defines cross-species reactivity of tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri) CD1d to human invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells. Immunology 128: 500-510.
2. Ren G, Su J, Zhang L, Zhao X, Ling W, et al. (2009) Species variation in the mechanisms of mesenchymal stem cell-mediated immunosuppression. Stem Cells 27: 1954-1962.
3. Ren G, Su J, Zhao X, Zhang L, Zhang J, et al. (2008) Apoptotic cells induce immunosuppression through dendritic cells: critical roles of IFN-gamma and nitric oxide. J Immunol 181: 3277-3284.
4. Zimbwa P, Milicic A, Frater J, Scriba TJ, Willis A, et al. (2007) Precise identification of a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 antigen processing mutant. J Virol 81: 2031-2038.
5. Frater AJ, Edwards CT, McCarthy N, Fox J, Brown H, et al. (2006) Passive sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 variants and adaptation in new hosts. J Virol 80: 7226-7234.
6. Pillay T, Zhang HT, Drijfhout JW, Robinson N, Brown H, et al. (2005) Unique acquisition of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte escape mutants in infant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection. J Virol 79: 12100-12105.

Supported Projects：
microRNAs
  • Biological significance of the naturally occurring HIV-1 antisense transcripts and their potential for encoding microRNAs; and
  • GBV-C/HGV interference with HIV-1 through a microRNA-mediated mechanism.

HIV/AIDS pathogenesis
 The role of MHC class II molecules in T cell apoptosis that is induced by surface-expressed HIV-1 gp120
Dendritic cells (DCs)

  • Dissection of the paralysing effects of HIV-1 auxiliary proteins on dendritic cell (DC) functions; and
  • Generation of dendritic cells from monkey embryonic stem cells for basic and pre-clinical research.

Animal models

  • Induction of immune tolerance for allografts in monkeys; 
  • Development of tree shrew models of human hepatitis B infection; and
  • Development of monkey models of naturally occurring diabetes.
    Vaccines
  • Development and assessment of live commensal bacteria as novel delivery systems for HIV/AIDS vaccines to monkeys; and
  • Assessment in monkeys of bird flu subunit DNA vaccines, live recombinant vectors, and various prime-boost combinations.