Staff Photo

Debin Tian

Assistant Professor, Veterinary Infectious Disease

Education

  • Ph.D. in molecular virology | Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China | 2011
  • M.S. in microbiology and immunology | Yangzhou University, China | 2008
  • DVM (equivalent) in veterinary medicine | Southwest Agricultural University, China | 2003

Academic and Professional Experience

Academic Interests
  • Zoonotic and food à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã viral diseases
Work Experience
  1. July 2025-present: Assistant professor, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University, Brookings, South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã.
  2. January 2019-July 2025: Research scientist, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
  3. March 2017-December 2018: Research associate, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
  4. December 2013-February 2017: Postdoctoral associate, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
  5. July 2011-November 2013: Associate scientist, Asian Veterinary Research and Development Center, Boehringer Ingelheim (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China

Research and Scholarly Work

Areas of Research
  • Investigation of pathogenesis of zoonotic and food à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã viral diseases including Hepatitis E virus, PRRSV, porcine coronaviruses.
  • Development of vaccines and therapeutic drugs against important viruses
Publications
  1. Debin Tian, Wen Li, C. Lynn Chandler, Bo Wang, Hassan M. Mahsouba and Xiang-Jin Meng. Antiviral resistance and barrier integrity at the maternal-fetal interface restrict hepatitis E virus from crossing the placental barrier. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2025, 122(18):e2501128122.
  2. Bo Wang, Hassan M. Mahsouba, Wen Li, C. Lynn Chandler, Debin Tian, Anna M. Hassebroek, Tanya LeRoith and X.J. Meng. Ribavirin treatment failure-associated mutation, Y1320H, in the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of genotype 3 hepatitis E virus enhances virus replication in a Rabbit HEV infection model. mBio. 2023: e0337222. doi: 10.1128/mbio.03372-22.
  3. Debin Tian, Wen Li, C. Lynn Heffron, Bo Wang, Hassan M. Mahsoub, Harini Sooryanarain, Anna M. Hassebroek, Sherrie Clark-Deener, Tanya LeRoith and Xiang-Jin Meng. Hepatitis E virus infects brain microvascular endothelial cells, crosses blood-brain barrier and invades the central nervous system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2022, 119 (24), e2201862119.
  4. Bo Wang, Debin Tian, Harini Sooryanarain, Hassan M., Mahsoub, C., Lynn Heffron, Anna M. Hassebroek and Xiang-Jin Meng. Two mutations in the ORF1 of genotype 1 hepatitis E virus enhance virus replication and may associate with fulminant hepatic failure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2022, 119(34):e2207503119.
  5. Debin Tian*, Denicar Lina Nascimento Fabris Maeda*, Hanna Yu, Nakul Dar, Vignesh Rajasekaran, Sarah Meng, Hassan Mahsoub, Harini Sooryanarain, Bo Wang, C. Lynn Heffron, Anna Hassebroek, Tanya LeRoith, Xiang-Jin Meng and Steven L. Zeichner. Killed whole genome-reduced bacteria surface-expressed coronavirus fusion peptide vaccines protect against disease in a porcine model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2021, 118(18). (*equal contribution).
  6. Debin Tian, Danielle M. Yugo, Scott P. Kenney, C. Lynn Heffron, Tanja Opriessnig, Anbu K. Karuppannan, Jenna Bayne, Patrick G. Halbur and Xiang-Jin Meng. Dissecting the potential role of hepatitis E virus ORF1 nonstructural gene in cross-species infection by using intergenotypic chimeric viruses. Journal of Medical Virology, 2020, 92: 3563-3571.
  7. Yi Lu, Sherrie Clark-Deener, Frank Gillam, Connie Lynn Heffron, Debin Tian, Harini Sooryanarain, Tanya LeRoith, Jessica Zoghby, Mallori Henshaw, Steven Waldrop, Jeremy Pittman, Xiang-Jin Meng and Chenming Zhang. Virus-like particle vaccine with B-cell epitope from porcine epidemic diarrhea virus incorporated into hepatitis B virus core capsid provides clinical alleviation against PEDV in neonatal piglets through lactogenic immunity. Vaccine, 2020, 38(33):5212-5218.
  8. Debin Tian, Sakthivel Subramaniam, C. Lynn Heffron, Hassan M. Mahsoub, Harini Sooryanarain, Bo Wang, Qian M. Cao, Anna Hassebroek, Tanya LeRoith, Dennis L. Foss, Jay G. Calvert and Xiang-Jin Meng. Construction and efficacy evaluation of novel swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) class I and class II allele-specific poly-T cell epitope vaccines against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Journal of Medical Virology, 2020, 101(11):1191-1201.
  9. Cao QM, Debin Tian, C.L. Heffron, S. Subramaniam, T. Opriessnig, D.L. Foss, J.G. Calvert and X.J. Meng. Cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes identified from a contemporary strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus enhance CD4+CD8+ T, CD8+ T, and gd T cell responses. Virology. 2019, 538:35-44.
  10. Cao D, H. Sooryanarain, D.M. Yugo, Debin Tian, A.J. Rogers, C.L. Heffron, A.T. Narayanappa, T. LeRoith, C. Overend, S.R. Matzinger, S. Elankumaran, J.R. Hermann, A.R. Patterson and X.J. Meng. Evaluation of the pathogenicity of mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 in gnotobiotic pigs and of the efficacy of an inactivated vaccine against MRV3 infection in neonatal conventional piglets. Veterinary Microbiology. 2018, 224:23-30.
  11. Debin Tian, Harini Sooryanarain, Shannon R. Matzinger, Phil C. Gauger, Anbu K. Karuppannan, Subbiah Elankumaran, Tanja Opriessnig and Xiang-Jin Meng. Protective efficacy of a virus vectored multicomponent vaccine against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine circovirus type 2, and swine influenza virus. Journal of General Virology, 2017; 98(12):3026-3036.
  12. Sakthivel Subramaniam, Dianjun Cao, Debin Tian, Qian M. Cao, Christopher Overend, Danielle M. Yugo, Shannon R. Matzinger, Adam J. Rogers, C. Lynn Heffron, Nicholas Catanzaro, Scott P Kenney, Tanja Opriessnig, Yao-Wei Huang, Geoffrey Labarque, Stephen Q. Wu and Xiang-Jin Meng. Efficient priming of CD4 T cells by Langerin-expressing dendritic cells targeted with porcine epidemic diarrhea virus spike protein domains in pigs. Virus Research. 2017, 227:212-219.
  13. Debin Tian, Dianjun Cao, C. Lynn Heffron, Danielle M. Yugo, Adam J. Rogers, Christopher Overend, Shannon R. Matzinger, Sakthivel Subramaniam, Tanja Opriessnig, Tanya LeRoith and Xiang-Jin Meng. Enhancing heterologous protection in pigs vaccinated with chimeric porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus containing the full-length sequences of shuffled structural genes of multiple heterologous strains. Vaccine, 2017, 35(18):2427-2434.
  14. Dianjun Cao, Qian M. Cao, Sakthivel Subramaniam, Danielle M. Yugo, C. Lynn Heffron, Adam J. Rogers, Scott P. Kenney, Debin Tian, Shannon R. Matzinger, Christopher Overend, Nicholas Catanzaro, Tanya LeRoith, Heng Wang, Pablo Piñeyro, Nicole Lindstrom, Sherrie Clark-Deener, Lijuan Yuan and Xiang-Jin Meng. Pig model mimicking chronic hepatitis E virus infection in immunocompromised patients to assess immune correlates during chronicity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2017, 114(27):6914-6923.
  15. Debin Tian and Xiang-Jin Meng. Amino acid residues Ala283 and His421 in the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus play important roles in viral Ribavirin sensitivity and quasispecies diversity. Journal of General Virology, 2016, 97(1):53-59.
  16. Evenson D., P.F. Gerber, C.T. Xiao, P.G. Halbur, C. Wang, Debin Tian, Y.Y. Ni, X.J. Meng and T. Opriessnig. A porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus candidate vaccine based on the synthetic attenuated virus engineering approach is attenuated and effective in protecting against homologous virus challenge. Vaccine, 2016, 34(46):5546-5553.
  17. Debin Tian, Yan-Yan Ni, Lei Zhou, Tanja Opriessnig, Dianjun Cao, Pablo Piñeyro, Danielle M. Yugo, Christopher Overend, Qian Cao, C. Lynn Heffron, Patrick G. Halbur, Douglas S. Pearce, Jay G. Calvert and Xiang-Jin Meng. Chimeric porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus containing shuffled multiple envelope genes confers cross-protection in pigs. Virology. 2015, 485:402-413.
  18. Sakthivel Subramaniam, Pablo E. Piñeyro, Debin Tian, Christopher Overend, Danielle M. Yugo, Shannon R. Matzinger, Adam J. Rogers, Mary Etna R. Haac, Qian Cao, Lynn Heffron, Catanzaro N, Scott P. Kenney, Yaowei Huang, Tanja Opriessnig and Xiang-Jin Meng. In vivo targeting of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus antigen through porcine DC-SIGN to dendritic cells elicits antigen-specific CD4T cell immunity in pigs. Vaccine. 2014, 32(50):6768-6775.
  19. Debin Tian, Zuzhang Wei, Jessika C. Zevenhoven-Dobbe, Runxia Liu, Guangzhi Tong, Eric J. Snijder and Shishan Yuan. Arterivirus minor envelope proteins are a major determinant of viral tropism in cell culture. Journal of Virology, 2012, 86 (7): 3701-3712.
  20. Debin Tian, Haihong Zheng, Rong Zhang, Jianshan Zhuang and Shishan Yuan. Chimeric porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome viruses reveal full function of genotype 1 envelope proteins in the backbone of genotype 2. Virology, 2011, 412(1):1-8.
  21. Debin Tian*, Yuelan Yin*, Yanyan Jia, Yun Gao, Hong Fu, Zhongwei Niu, Lin Sun and Xinan Jiao. Attenuated Listeria monocytogene as an expression and delivery vector for Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen ESAT-6 to induce immune response. Research in Microbiology, 2012, 163(8): 540-549. (*equal contribution).
  22. Debin Tian, Shishan Yuan. Research progress on how porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus enter into cell. Chinese Journal of Animal Infectious Diseases, 2011, 19(3): 68-74.
  23. Debin Tian, Yuan Zhou, Yin Yue-lan, Huang Jin-lin, Dong Hui, Jiao Xin-an. Cloning and prokaryotic expression of the plcB gene from Listeria monocytogenes. Chinese Journal of Zoonoses, 2007, 23 (7): 652-655.
Mailing Address:
Animal Disease Research 119
Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences-Box 2175
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007
Office Location:
Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory
Room 119
Back to Directory
Related Links
Associated Areas
Students gather around cow skeleton as professor points to a bone in the neck
Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
students in a soybean field
College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences