Shi Zhengli is a prominent Chinese virologist recognized for her research into zoonotic diseases, particularly those originating from bats. She is a senior scientist and formerly directed the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. Her work primarily involves identifying and characterizing novel viruses that can transmit from animals to humans, a field that gained global attention with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early Career and Focus on Viruses
Shi Zhengli began her studies with a bachelor’s degree in genetics from Wuhan University in 1987. She then pursued her master’s degree at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, completing it in 1990. She earned her Ph.D. from Montpellier 2 University in France in 2000.
She has been a staff member at the Wuhan Institute of Virology since 1990, where her research has focused on virus identification and pathogenesis. Her early work involved discovering unknown viruses in wild animals and studying their molecular epidemiology and interspecies infection mechanisms. This laid the groundwork for her specialization in bat-borne viruses, which she began studying around 2004.
Key Research on Bat Coronaviruses
Much of Shi Zhengli’s scientific work has focused on coronaviruses in bats. In 2005, she and her colleagues published findings that bats serve as natural reservoirs for SARS-like coronaviruses. This discovery was key to understanding the origins of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which emerged in 2002-2003.
Her team conducted research expeditions, collecting samples from horseshoe bats across China. They used genetic analyses to characterize the circulating SARS-like coronaviruses. In 2013, her group successfully isolated a live SARS-like virus from bats that could bind to the human ACE2 receptor, suggesting direct transmission from bats to humans was possible without an intermediate host.
Her team identified the bat coronavirus RaTG13. Isolated from a Rhinolophus affinis bat in Yunnan province in 2013, this virus shares a high genetic resemblance to SARS-CoV-2. Its genome sequence is about 96.2% identical to SARS-CoV-2, although it is not considered a direct ancestor. This work advanced the understanding of zoonotic spillover risks from bats.
Role in Pandemic Investigations and Debates
With the emergence of COVID-19 in Wuhan in late 2019, Shi Zhengli and her team at the Wuhan Institute of Virology played a central role in the initial response. Her laboratory rapidly sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 in early January 2020, identifying it as a novel coronavirus of probable bat origin. This was aided by her prior experience with bat coronaviruses.
Her research and the location of her laboratory in Wuhan placed her at the center of discussions regarding the pandemic’s origin. Two theories emerged: natural zoonotic spillover, or a laboratory-related incident (often called a “lab leak”). Proponents of the lab leak theory often point to the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s proximity to the initial outbreak.
Shi Zhengli has publicly addressed these theories, denying that SARS-CoV-2 originated from her laboratory. She stated her lab did not possess the specific virus before the pandemic and that all staff tested negative in the early stages. While a scientific consensus suggests natural zoonosis is the more likely origin, the lack of complete transparency from the Chinese government regarding early data has fueled ongoing debate.