Wenjun Ma, PhD

Professor

  • B.Vsc, Northeast Agricultural University
  • M.Vsc, Graduate school of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
  • Ph.D, Justus-Liebig-University
  • Postdoc, Iowa State University and National Animal Disease Center, USDA/ARS

Building Address: E115A Veterinary Medicine Building
Phone Number: 573-882-2863
Email: wma@missouri.edu

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Ma’s research interests are viral diseases, with an emphasis on emerging zoonotic viral infections. His current research focuses on understanding mechanisms of pathogenesis and transmissibility, virus-host interaction and developing vaccines and antivirals for different zoonotic viral pathogens, such as Influenza virus, Rift Valley fever virus, SARS-CoV-2, Hantavirus and other viral infections. He is also interested in development of rapid detection systems for viral diseases. His long-term goals are to apply molecular biology and virology approaches to generate countermeasures and scientific knowledge that can be used to address current challenge from influenza and other important diseases for industry and public health needs.

TEACHING

MICROB 9001 Advanced Virology
MICROB 8303 Foundations of Virology
VPB 5558/8458 Veterinary Public Health

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

A full list of publications can be found in the W Ma publications

  1. Zhang J, Yang W, Roy S, Liu H, Roberts, M. R, Wang L, Lei Shi L, Ma W. Tight junction protein Occludin is an internalization factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection and mediates virus cell-to-cell transmission. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Apr 25;120(17):e2218623120
  2. Wang L, Zheng B, Shen Z, Deb Nath N, Li Y, Walsh T, Mitchell W, Li Y, He D, Lee J, Moore S, Tong S, Zhang S, Ma W. Isolation and identification of mammalian orthoreovirus from bats in the United States. J Med Virol. 2023 Feb;95(2):e28492.
  3. Ganti K, Bagga A, Ferreri L, Geiger G, Carnaccini S, Caceres C, Seibert B, Li Y, Wang L, Kwon T, Li Y, Morozov I, Ma W, Richt J, Perez D, Koelle K, Lowen AC. Influenza A virus reassortment in mammals gives rise to spatially distinct sub-populations. Nature Communications. 2022. 13: 6846.
  4. Artiaga BL, Morozov I, Ransburgh R, Kwon T, Balaraman V, Indran S, Madrid DM, Gu W, Henningson J, Ma W, Driver JP, Richt JA. Evaluating α-galactosylceramide as an adjuvant for live attenuated influenza vaccines in pigs. Animal diseases. 2022, 2:19.
  5. Zhou J, Choi S, Liu H, Zhang J, Tian Y, Edlow AG, Ezashi T, Roberts RM, Ma W, Schust DJ. Is SARS-CoV-2 Infection a Risk Factor for Early Pregnancy Loss? ACE2 and TMPRSS2 Coexpression and Persistent Replicative Infection in Primitive Trophoblast . J Infect Dis. 2021 Dec 1; 224(Suppl 6): S660–S669.
  6. Wang L, Li Y, Walsh T, Shen T, Li Y, Deb Nath N, Lee J, Zheng B, Tao Y, Paden YR, Queen K, Tong S, Zhang S, Ma W. Isolation and characterization of novel reassortant mammalian orthoreovirus from pigs in the United States . Emerg Microbes Infect. 2021; 10(1): 1137–1147.
  7. Lee J, Li Y, Li Y, Cino-Ozuna AG, Duff M, Lang Y, Ma J, Sunwoo S, Richt JA, Ma W. Bat influenza vectored NS1-truncated live vaccine protects pigs against heterologous virus challenge. Vaccine. 2021 Apr 1;39(14):1943-1950.
  8. Yang W, Schountz T, Ma W. Bat Influenza Viruses: Current Status and Perspective . Viruses. 2021 Apr; 13(4): 547.
  9. Gaudreault NN, Trujillo JD, Carossino M, Meekins DA, Morozov I, Madden DW, Indran SV, Bold D, Balaraman V, Kwon T, Artiaga BL, Cool K, García-Sastre A, Ma W, Wilson WC, Henningson J, Balasuriya UBR, Richt JA. SARS-CoV-2 infection, disease and transmission in domestic cats . Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020; 9(1): 2322–2332.
  10. Meekins DA, Morozov I, Trujillo JD, Gaudreault NN, Bold D, Carossino M, Artiaga BL, Indran SV, Kwon T, Velmurugan Balaraman V, Madden DW, Feldmann H, Henningson J, Ma W, Balasuriya UBR, Richt JA. Susceptibility of swine cells and domestic pigs to SARS-CoV-2 . Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020; 9(1): 2278–2288.
  11. Ciminski K, Ran W, Gorka M, Lee J, Malmlov A, Schinköthe J, Eckley M, Murrieta RA, Aboellail TA, Campbell CL, Ebel GD, Ma J, Pohlmann A, Franzke K, Ulrich R, Hoffmann D, García-Sastre A, Ma W, Schountz T, Beer M, Schwemmle M. Bat influenza viruses transmit among bats but are poorly adapted to non-bat species. Nat Microbiol. 2019 Dec;4(12):2298-2309.
  12. Wang R, Zhu Y, Lin X, Ren C, Zhao J, Wang F, Gao X, Xiao R, Zhao L, Chen H, Jin M, Ma W, Zhou H. Influenza M2 protein regulates MAVS-mediated signaling pathway through interacting with MAVS and increasing ROS production. Autophagy . 2019 Jul; 15 (7) :1163-1181.
  13. Ma J, Shen H, McDowell C, Liu Q, Duff M, Lee J, Lang Y, Hesse D, Richt JA, Ma W. Virus survival and fitness when multiple genotypes and subtypes of influenza A viruses exist and circulate in swine. Virology . 2019 Apr 9; 532 :30-38.
  14. Lang Y, Li Y, Jasperson D, Henningson J, Lee J, Ma J, Li Y, Duff M, Liu H, Bai D, McVey S, Richt JA, Ikegami T, Wilson WC, Ma W. Identification and evaluation of antivirals for Rift Valley fever virus. Vet Microbiol. 2019 Mar;230:110-116.
  15. Sunwoo SY, Pérez-Núñez D, Morozov I, Sánchez EG, Gaudreault NN, Trujillo JD, Mur L, Nogal M, Madden D, Urbaniak K, Kim IJ, Ma W, Revilla Y, Richt JA. DNA-protein vaccination strategy does not protect from challenge with African swine fever virus Armenia 2007 strain. Vaccines (Basel) . 2019 Jan 28; 7 (1).