Education

Ph.D., Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2013
M.S., Veterinary Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009
BVSc (DVM Equivalent), Nong Lam University, 2005

Teaching

ASCI 444/484: Domestic Animal Immunology
Summary: Learn the fundamental knowledge of the animal immune system, and how to utilize immunology to improve animal health and production. Become familiar with common immunoassays, immunological diseases and immunotherapy.

VMED 687: Veterinary Virology
Summary: The unique biological features of viruses in terms of their life cycle and tropism in their hosts.

Research

The Vu's laboratory focuses on viruses that affect animal production, health, and well-being, with the primary goal of developing novel and effective interventions to control these diseases. His research involves studying host immune responses to viral infections or vaccinations to identify correlates of protection and viral antigens that induce protective immunity. Many viruses rely on specific surface proteins to interact with cellular receptors and infect host cells. Antibody responses against these proteins can block the virus's interaction with cellular receptors and prevent infection. Currently, Dr. Vu's laboratory is developing a delivery platform to induce immune responses against viral receptor-binding proteins. One approach involves using lipid nanoparticles to encapsulate DNA plasmids encoding viral attachment proteins to enhance the cellular uptake of the DNA plasmids, thus, enhancing the immunogenicity. This strategy is intended to generate vaccines that provide long-lasting and broadly protective immunity.

Selected Publications

• Nguyen NT, Lai DC, Silman S, Petro-Turnquist E, Weaver E, Vu HL*. 2024. Lipid Nanoparticle-encapsulated DNA Vaccine Confers Protection Against Swine and Human-Origin H1N1 Influenza Viruses. mSphere. 2024 Aug 1:e0028324. PMID: 39087764. 
• Nguyen TN, Kumari S, Sillman S, Chaudhari J, Lai DC, Vu HLX. 2023. A Single-Dose Intramuscular Immunization of Pigs with Lipid Nanoparticle DNA Vaccines Based on the Hemagglutinin Antigen Confers Complete Protection against Challenge Infection with the Homologous Influenza Virus Strain. Vaccines. 2023; 11(10):1596. PMID: 37896997. 
• Chaudhari J, Leme RA, Durazo-Martinez K, Sillman S, Workman AM, Vu H.L.* 2022. A single amino acid substitution in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus glycoprotein 2 significantly impairs its infectivity in macrophages. Viruses 2022, Dec 18;14(12):2822. PMID: 36560826. 
• Chaudhari J., Liew CS, Riethoven JJ, Sillman S., and Vu H.*, 2021. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection upregulates negative immune regulators and T cell exhaustion markers. J Virol. 2021 Oct 13;95(21):e0105221. PMID: 34379512 
• Vu HLX, McVey DS. 2024. Recent progress on gene-deleted live-attenuated African swine fever virus vaccines. NPJ Vaccines 9:60. PMID: 38480758. 
• Luong HQ, Lai HTL, Truong LQ, Nguyen TN, Vu HD, Nguyen HT, Nguyen LT, Pham TH, McVey DS, Vu HLX. 2023. Comparative Analysis of Swine Antibody Responses following Vaccination with Live-Attenuated and Killed African Swine Fever Virus Vaccines. Vaccines. 2023; 11(11): 1687. PMID: 38006019.