Professional Profile

1980                Research Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology and Virology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Autonomous University of Mexico

1986-1989      Research Associate, Department of Microbiology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

1989-1996      Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois

1989-2010      Chief, Clinical Immunology Laboratory, Laboratory of Diagnostic Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois

1996-2004     Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine

1998-1999      Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Center for Immunology, Sabbatical leave, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

2005-Present    Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois

2010-2015      Founder and President: Aptimmune Biologics, Inc. Champaign, IL

2016-Present   Founder and Chief Scientific Officer: Aptimmune Biologics, Inc. Champaign, IL

A major focus is the understanding of the innate and adaptive immunity responses of swine to viruses, as well as mechanisms used by viral pathogens to evade protective immune responses. This knowledge is applied to the development of effective vaccines to conquer economically important viral diseases of swine including porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus and influenza A virus of swine. Additional areas of interest include porcine macrophage biology and the role of the intestinal microbiome in activating innate immune defenses of swine.

Dr. Zuckermann is an expert on the nature of the immune response of swine to porcine viruses including porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus and influenza A virus.

Dr. Zuckermann earned a DVM equivalent degree with honors from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Texas Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. After a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Tamar Ben-Porat at Vanderbilt University, in 1989 he joined the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is now a Professor of Immunology.

He has authored over 85 scientific publications and is the inventor of nine patents. In 2010, he founded Aptimmune Biologics (http://aptimmune.com/) with the goal of commercializing vaccine technologies developed in his research laboratory, namely a novel porcine alveolar macrophage cell line, termed Zuckermann macrophage (ZMAC), and a novel PRRS virus vaccine strain derived from a naturally non-virulent PRRS virus isolate, termed G16X. The latter is currently being sold in Mexico by Avimex under the name Innovac L-PRRS (https://avimex.com.mx/producto/innovac-l-prrs).

Dr. Zuckermann is past-President of the American Association of Veterinary Immunologists and has received research grants from federal  and private funding agencies totaling over three million dollars.

Meier WA, Judy Galeota J, Osorio FA, Husmann R, Schnitzlein W, and Zuckermann FA. 2003. Gradual development of the interferon gamma-response of swine to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Virology. 309:18-31.

Foss, DL, Zilliox, MJ, Meier, W, Zuckermann, FA, and Murtaugh, MP. 2002. Adjuvant danger signals increase the immune response to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Viral Immunology. 15:557-566.

Muratugh, MP, Xiao, Z, and Zuckermann, FA. 2002. Immunological responses of swine to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection. Viral Immunology. 15:533-47.

Royaee, A.R., Husmann, R.J., Dawson H.D., Calzada-Nova, G., Schnitzlein, W.M., Zuckermann, F.A., Lunney, J.K. 2004. Deciphering the involvement of innate immune factors in the development of the host responses to PRRSV vaccination. Vet. Immunol. Immunopathol. 102:199-216.

Meier, W.A., Husmann, R.J., Schnitzlein, W.M., Osorio, F.A., Lunney, J.K., Zuckermann, F.A. 2004. The use of cytokines and synthetic double-stranded RNA to augment the T helper1 immune response of swine to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus. Vet. Immunol. Immunopathol. 102:299-314.

Zuckermann, FA., Garcia, EA., Diaz Luque, I., Christopher-Hennings, J., Doster, A., Brito, M., Osorio, FA.  2007. Assessment of the Efficacy of Commercial Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) Vaccines Based on Measurement of Serologic Response, Frequency of Gamma-IFN Producing Cells and Virological Parameters of Protection upon Challenge. Veterinary Microbiology.  Feb 26. 2007.

Calzada-Nova G, Schnitzlein W, Husmann R, Zuckermann FA. 2010. Characterization of the cytokine response of pure populations of porcine plasmacytoid dendritic cells to porcine viruses and toll-like receptor agonists. Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 135(1-2):20-33.

Calzada-Nova G, Schnitzlein W, Husmann R, Zuckermann FA. 2011. North American porcine reproductive and respiratory viruses inhibit type I interferon production by plasmacytoid dendritic cells. J. Virol. doi:10.1128/JVI.01616-10. Vol. 85 (6) 2703-2713.

Debra J. Thomas, Robert J. Husmann, Mauricio Villamar, Timothy R. Winship, Rachael H. Buck, Federico A. Zuckermann.  Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 Attenuates Allergy Development in a Pig Model.  PLoS ONE 6(2): e16577. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016577.

Loving, C., Osorio, F.A., Murtaugh, M.P., Zuckermann F.A. 2015. Innate and adaptive immunity against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus. Vet. Immunol. Immunopath. 167:1-14.

Chen WY, Schnitzlein WM, Calzada-Nova, G, Zuckermann FA. 2018. Genotype 2 strains of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus dysregulate alveolar macrophage cytokine production via the unfolded protein response. J. Virol. 92:1251-17. Selected as a Spotlight Article.

Portugal R, Goatley LC, Husmann R, Zuckermann FA, Dixon LK. A porcine macrophage cell line that supports high levels of replication of OURT88/3, an attenuated strain of African swine fever virus. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec;9(1):1245-1253. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1772675. PMID: 32515659; PMCID: PMC7448849.

Zuckermann FA, Husmann R, Chen W, Roady P, Pfeiff J, Leistikow KR, Duersteler M, Son S, King MR, Augspurger NR. Bacillus-Based Direct-Fed Microbial Reduces the Pathogenic Synergy of a Coinfection with Salmonella enterica Serovar Choleraesuis and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus. Infect Immun. 2022 Mar 7:e0057421. doi: 10.1128/iai.00574-21. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35254092.

Patent No. US 7,388,087 B2. Enhancement of immune response to vaccine by interferon alpha.” Inventor: Federico A. Zuckermann.  Patent issued June 17, 2008, 2010.

Patent No. US 7,767,653 B2. Enhancement of immune response to vaccine by interferon alpha.” Inventor: Federico A. Zuckermann.  Patent issued August 3, 2010.

Patent No.: US 8,202,717 B2 Non-Simian Cells for Growth of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Virus.  Inventor: Federico A. Zuckermann. Patent issued June 19, 2012. 

Patent No.: US 8,663,984 B2 Non-Simian Cells for Growth of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Virus.  Inventor: Federico A. Zuckermann. Patent issued March 4, 2014. 

Chinese Patent Aplication No. 200880007410.1. Non-Simian Cells for Growth of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Virus. Inventor: Federico A. Zuckermann. Granted January 10, 2014.

US Patent.: No.9,149,518. “Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Compositions and Uses Thereof.”   Inventors: Federico A. Zuckermann; William Schnitzlein; Gabriela Calzada-Nova.  Patent issued 2015.

Chinese Patent for Invention No. 2013800725654. “Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Compositions and Uses Thereof.” Inventors: Federico A. Zuckermann; William Schnitzlein; Gabriela Calzada-Nova. Issued June 7, 2019.

Mexico Patent No. MX/a/2015/006970 “Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Compositions and Uses Thereof.” . Inventors: Federico A. Zuckermann; William Schnitzlein; Gabriela Calzada-Nova. Issued June 26, 2019.

International Application No. PCT/US2020/041762. “Methods for Growing African Swine Fever Virus in Fetal Porcine Lung Alveolar Macrophages” Inventors: Federico A. Zuckermann; Linda K. Dixon; Maria Portugal; Lynnette Goatley. Pending.

USDA NRI CPG FY07  “In vivo analysis of PRRS virus immunopathogenesis.”  Proposal Number Assigned by CSREES: 2007-01758 Date Received: 22-NOV-06  Grants.Gov Tracking Number: GRANT00168948.

National Pork Board. Viral structural components that enable vaccine-induced protective immunity against contemporary high morbidity and high mortality PRRS virus. NPB Project #12-176.

USDA Hatch Program FY 2017. Proposal title: Nanodisc-based mucosal DIVA vaccine for PRRSV.

USDA NIFA. FY 2017. Pathogenesis of exacerbated pneumonia in PRRSV-bacterial co-infections.  

National Pork Board 11/01/2018 - 10/31/2019. Nanodisc-based mucosal DIVA vaccine for PRRS virus.

USDA NIFA. FY 2020. 07/15/2020 - 06/14/2023. Increasing the Breadth of Protection Afforded by Influenza A Virus Vaccines For Swine By Targeting The Matrix Protein 2. 

1979                Proficiency Diploma, National Autonomous University of Mexico

1980                Manual H. Sarvide Award, Granted by the Mexican Veterinary Academy

1980-1982      Scholarship in U.S.A., awarded by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico to study in the U.S.A.

1997-1998      National Cancer Institute Research Award. Postdoctoral fellowship National Cancer Institute Service Training grant CA-09385-07

1980                Honorable Mention, National Autonomous University of Mexico

1985                Graduate Student Research Forum Award, Sigma XI Club, University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas

1996                Arnold O Beckman Research Award, University of Illinois Research Board

1997                Elected Member, Mexican Veterinary Academy

1998-1999      Sabbatical leave, University of Minnesota, Department of Microbiology, Center for Immunology, Minneapolis, Minnesota

1999                Norman D. Levine Award, University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine

1999-2004      Editorial Board, Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology

1999-2000      Board Member, American Association of Veterinary Immunologist

2001                Vice President, American Association of Veterinary Immunologist

2002                President, American Association of Veterinary Immunologist

2003                Research Excellence Award, University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine

2004                Pfizer Award for Research Excellence