Ying Fang
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, can infect animals as well as people. Domestic cats, tigers and lions are highly susceptible, as earlier work by this team and others showed.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
SARS-CoV-2
coronavirus
zoonosis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, last ended Aug 2026
What they work on
- Generate and characterize SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody reagents and diagnostic standards for COVID-19 research and diagnostics.
- Develop rapid assays to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection in any animal species, including a serological DIVA test that tells vaccinated animals apart from infected ones.
- Establish a feline model of SARS-CoV-2 infection to study how the virus causes disease and how the host immune system responds.
- Apply the new assays to surveillance of pets and zoo animals to identify animal reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2 and inform models of infection risk.
More about the research
When the virus passes back and forth between humans and animals, it may pick up new mutations, and animals could become hidden reservoirs. Tracking the virus in animals requires tests that work across species and a good animal model of the disease.
Why it matters
Animals that carry SARS-CoV-2 could pass it back to people or drive new viral variants. Tests that work across species could help find animal reservoirs and protect veterinarians, zoo staff and pet owners. A feline model could also serve as a tool for screening vaccine and drug candidates.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Pamela Wong
University of Michigan, MI·Microbiology & Immunology
Profile the immune responses raised by the combined nanoemulsion plus RIG-I-agonist adjuvant paired with multiple SARS-CoV-2 antigens, comparing injection and mucosal routes, to identify optimal formulations and delivery.
Marco Salemi
University of Florida, FL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test whether SARS-CoV-2 evolves faster within immunocompromised people with HIV by using phylodynamic analysis, which reconstructs viral family trees from genetic sequences, to track variants that arise inside one person.
Fuqing Wu
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX·Public Health & Epidemiology
Build models that connect how virus levels change inside one infected person with how the virus passes between people, so that SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater can be read as measures of community transmission.
The school
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: 41 labs on PI Pages, $907M a year on research, 870 research doctorates a year.
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