Yong Xue, PhD

Staff Scientist
301-795-7971

Yong Xue joined the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, MD in 2018 in the Synthetic Biology and Bioenergy Group. His research interests involve expanding TAR cloning synthetic genomics tools, developed by Dr. Sanjay Vashee, to various viruses to facilitate vaccines development. He was also involved in developing broad range applications of synthetic microbiomes.

Prior to joining JCVI, Dr. Xue was an ORISE fellow at U.S. Food and Drug Administration where he worked on development of flow cytometric based rapid detection and enumeration platform of food-borne pathogens (RAPID-B). Dr. Xue holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the Shandong University, a master’s degree in molecular microbiology from Virginia Tech, and a Ph.D. degree in molecular genetics from University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Research Priorities

Signature infiltration and maintenance on plasmid elements creating a forensic microbial system
  • Design unique barcoded signatures and develop loop-mediated amplification (LAMP) and qPCR methods for rapid detection of signatures in field.
Elucidation of functions and genetic networks of HSV-1 virion proteins
  • Assemble HSV-1 genomes from part fragments with desired mutations.
  • Analyze protein interactions of HSV-1 virion proteins by GFP-trap, Western, and MS.
Generation and characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 infectious virus to facilitate therapeutic and vaccine development
  • Deconstruct SARS-CoV-2 genome and reassemble infectious clones with reporter genes.
  • Development of mouse adapted SARS-CoV-2 strains for in vivo studies.

Publications

McGrath ME, Xue Y, Dillen C, Oldfield L, Assad-Garcia N, Zaveri J, Singh N, Baracco L, Taylor LJ, Vashee S, Frieman MB
SARS-CoV-2 variant spike and accessory gene mutations alter pathogenesis.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2022-09-13; 119.37: e2204717119.
PMID: 36040867
Sievers BL, Chakraborty S, Xue Y, Gelbart T, Gonzalez JC, Cassidy AG, Golan Y, Prahl M, Gaw SL, Arunachalam PS, Blish CA, Boyd SD, Davis MM, Jagannathan P, Nadeau KC, Pulendran B, Singh U, Scheuermann RH, Frieman MB, Vashee S, Wang TT, Tan GS
Antibodies elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection or mRNA vaccines have reduced neutralizing activity against Beta and Omicron pseudoviruses.
Science translational medicine. 2022-03-02; 14.634: eabn7842.
PMID: 35025672
Zhong H, Xue Y, Lu X, Shao Q, Cao Y, Wu Z, Chen G
The Effects of Different Degrees of Procyanidin Polymerization on the Nutrient Absorption and Digestive Enzyme Activity in Mice.
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 2018-11-08; 23.11:
PMID: 30413083
Xue Y, He Q
Synthetic Biology Approaches to the Sustainable Production of p-Coumaric Acid and Its Derivatives in Cyanobacteria.
Advances in experimental medicine and biology. 2018-01-01; 1080.261-277.
PMID: 30091099
Xue Y, Wilkes JG, Moskal TJ, Williams AJ, Cooper WM, Buzatu DA
Flow-Cytometry-Based Method to Detect Escherichia coli and Shigella Spp. Using 16S rRNA-Based Probe.
Current protocols in toxicology. 2017-02-01; 71.2.25.1-2.25.8.
PMID: 28146281
Xue Y, Wilkes JG, Moskal TJ, Williams AJ, Cooper WM, Nayak R, Rafii F, Buzatu DA
Development of a Flow Cytometry-Based Method for Rapid Detection of Escherichia coli and Shigella Spp. Using an Oligonucleotide Probe.
PloS one. 2016-02-25; 11.2: e0150038.
PMID: 26913737
Xue Y, He Q
Cyanobacteria as cell factories to produce plant secondary metabolites.
Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology. 2015-04-28; 3.57.
PMID: 25973419
Xue Y, Zhang Y, Cheng D, Daddy S, He Q
Genetically engineering Synechocystis sp. Pasteur Culture Collection 6803 for the sustainable production of the plant secondary metabolite p-coumaric acid.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2014-07-01; 111.26: 9449-54.
PMID: 24927550
Majeed W, Zhang Y, Xue Y, Ranade S, Blue RN, Wang Q, He Q
RpaA regulates the accumulation of monomeric photosystem I and PsbA under high light conditions in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.
PloS one. 2012-09-14; 7.9: e45139.
PMID: 23024802

Research Priorities

Signature infiltration and maintenance on plasmid elements creating a forensic microbial system
  • Design unique barcoded signatures and develop loop-mediated amplification (LAMP) and qPCR methods for rapid detection of signatures in field.
Elucidation of functions and genetic networks of HSV-1 virion proteins
  • Assemble HSV-1 genomes from part fragments with desired mutations.
  • Analyze protein interactions of HSV-1 virion proteins by GFP-trap, Western, and MS.
Generation and characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 infectious virus to facilitate therapeutic and vaccine development
  • Deconstruct SARS-CoV-2 genome and reassemble infectious clones with reporter genes.
  • Development of mouse adapted SARS-CoV-2 strains for in vivo studies.