Faculty Profile

Biography

Dr. Tao Wei is Associate Professor of Immunology and Microbiology and Course Director of Immunology at LECOM. He received PhD in Microbiology from Uppsala University and MD from Henan Medical University specializing in Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. He conducted postdoctoral research in Molecular Biology at California Institute of Technology and in Cancer Immunology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He has taught General/Medical Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, and Biology at undergraduate and graduate levels for decades in UT San Antonio and Southwest Baptist University. He has collaborated with Dr. Peixuan Guo, a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors at Ohio State University, resulting in numerous publications with students as co-authors in Nanomedicine, Microbiology, Immunology, Molecular Biology, and Infectious Diseases. He has served as a Scientist Reviewer for the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC/CDMRP) on Infectious Diseases. He currently serves as an AI Specialist and Reviewer in Microbiology and Biology for Reinforced Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) and Large Language Model Deployment in biomedical science and healthcare. His research interests now evolve into deploying AI in medical education and research.

EXAMPLES of PUBLICATIONS (#Graduate and ## undergraduate student authors)

1. Tao Weitao, Giovanna Grandinetti and Peixuan Guo. Revolving ATPase Motors as Asymmetrical Hexameric Hexamers ATPase Motors in Translocating Lengthy dsDNA via Conformational Changes and Electrostatic Interactions in Phi29, T7, Herpesvirus, Minivirus, E. coli, and Streptomyces. Exploration. Review (2023)
2. Audra Addison##, Ally Parker##, Laura Dixon##, Tao Weitao. HOW WILL THE COVID-19 VACCINES HELP SHAPE THE HERD IMMUNITY AGAINST COVID-19? Review article.  Virology & Immunology Journal. 5(1): 1-7.  (2021)
3. Haitao Yang, MariaLynn Jaeger, Averi Walker, Katie Leiker, Daniel Wei, Tao Weitao. Break breast cancer addiction by CRISPR/Cas-9 genome editing. Review Article J Cancer. 9(2): 219–231. (2018)
4. Katie Leiker## and Tao Weitao. The SOS response of biofilms.  International Journal of Clinical and Medical Microbiology. 1: 113 (2016)
5. Annie Wolfe##, Kara Phipps##, Tao Weitao. SOS-related AAA+ motor proteins: common mechanisms to divergent functions. Cell & Bioscience. doi: 10.1186/2045-3701-4-31. eCollection (2014)  Review.
6. Peixuan Guo, Zhengyi Zhao, Jeannie Haak, Shaoying Wang, DongWu, BingMeng, and Tao Weitao. Common mechanisms of DNA translocation motors in bacteria and viruses using one-way revolution mechanism without rotation.  Biotechnology Advances. 32, 853-872 (2014).  Review.
7. Shakinah T Chellappa#, Reshma Maredia#, Kara Phipps##, William E Haskins, Tao Weitao. Motility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa contributes to the SOS-inducible biofilm formation. Research in Microbiology. 164: 1019-27. (2013).
8. Shakinah T Chellappa1#; Reshma Maredia#; Kara Phipps##‎; Annie Wolfe##; Elizabeth Packard##‎; William E Haskins; Tao Weitao. Motility plays a role in the SOS-inducible biofilm formation.  In a Book: Microbial pathogens and strategies for combating them: science, technology and education. FORMATEX RESEARCH CENTER. A. Mendez-Vilas (Ed.). (Book chapter) (2013).
9. Dallo, S., Zhang, B., Denno, J##., Hong, S#., Tsai, A#., Haskins, W., Ye, J.Y., and Weitao, T. Association of Acinetobacter baumannii EF-Tu with cell surface, outer membrane vesicles and fibronectin. TSWJ Microbiology. 2012: 128705. (2012).
10. Maredia, R#., Devineni, Navya#., Lentz, Peter#., Dallo, Shatha F., Yu, JiehJuen., Guentzel, Neal., Chambers, James., Arulanandam, Bernard., Haskins, William E., Weitao, Tao. Vesiculation from Pseudomonas aeruginosa under SOS. ISRN Molecular Biology. 2012:402919. (2012).