Dr Xie Ruopeng joined HKU-Pasteur Research Pole of the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong in 2020 as a Research Assistant and earned his PhD in 2024 under Dr Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran. He is also a recipient of the RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme for the 2024/25 exercise.

His research employs phylogenetic and phylodynamic methods to study the epidemiology and evolution of respiratory viruses of public health importance such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV. Currently, he is advancing his work by integrating machine learning with phylodynamics to enhance computational efficiency and enable real-time reconstruction of epidemic curves.

(^*co-first authorship)

1. Xie R, Edwards KM, Wille M, Wei X, Wong SS, Zanin M, El-Shesheny R, Ducatez M, Poon LLM, Kayali G, Webby RJ, Dhanasekaran V. The episodic resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 virus. Nature. 2023 Oct 18. Impact Factor 64.8 (2022), rank 1/73 multidisciplinary sciences.
2. Xie R^*, Edwards KM^*, Adam DC, Leung KSM, Tsang TK, Gurung S, Xiong W, Wei X, Ng DYM, Liu GYZ, Krishnan P, Chang LDJ, Cheng SMS, Gu H, Siu GKH, Wu JT, Leung GM, Peiris M, Cowling BJ, Poon LLM, Dhanasekaran V. Resurgence of Omicron BA.2 in SARS-CoV-2 infection-naive Hong Kong. Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 27;14(1):2422. Impact Factor 16.6 (2022), rank 6/73 multidisciplinary sciences.
3. Xie R, Adam DC, Edwards KM, Gurung S, Wei X, Cowling BJ, Dhanasekaran V. Genomic epidemiology of seasonal influenza circulation in China during prolonged border closure from 2020 to 2021. Virus Evol. 2022 Jul 13;8(2):veac062. Impact Factor 6.9 (2022), rank 7/36 virology.
4. Eden JS^*, Sikazwe C^*, Xie R^*, Deng YM, Sullivan SG, Michie A, Levy A, Cutmore E, Blyth CC, Britton PN, Crawford N, Dong X, Dwyer DE, Edwards KM, Horsburgh BA, Foley D, Kennedy K, Minney-Smith C, Speers D, Tulloch RL, Holmes EC, Dhanasekaran V, Smith DW, Kok J, Barr IG; Australian RSV study group. Off-season RSV epidemics in Australia after easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Nat Commun. 2022 May 24;13(1):2884. Impact Factor 16.6 (2022), rank 6/73 multidisciplinary sciences.
5. Dhanasekaran V, Sullivan S, Edwards KM, Xie R, Khvorov A, Valkenburg SA, Cowling BJ, Barr IG. Human seasonal influenza under COVID-19 and the potential consequences of influenza lineage elimination. Nat Commun. 2022 Mar 31;13(1):1721. Impact Factor 16.6 (2022), rank 6/73 multidisciplinary sciences.
6. Gu H^*, Xie R^*, Adam DC^*, Tsui JL^*, Chu DK^*, Chang LDJ, Cheuk SSY, Gurung S, Krishnan P, Ng DYM, Liu GYZ, Wan CKC, Cheng SSM, Edwards KM, Leung KSM, Wu JT, Tsang DNC, Leung GM, Cowling BJ, Peiris M, Lam TTY, Dhanasekaran V, Poon LLM. Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 under an elimination strategy in Hong Kong. Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 8;13(1):736. Impact Factor 16.6 (2022), rank 6/73 multidisciplinary sciences.
7. Dhanasekaran V, Edwards KM, Xie R, Gu H, Adam DC, Chang LDJ, Cheuk SSY, Gurung S, Krishnan P, Ng DYM, Liu GYZ, Wan CKC, Cheng SSM, Tsang DNC, Cowling BJ, Peiris M, Poon LLM. Air travel-related outbreak of multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants. J Travel Med. 2021 Dec 29;28(8):taab149. Impact Factor 25.7 (2022), rank 4/96 infectious diseases.
8. Gu H, Chu DKW, Chang LDJ, Cheuk SSY, Gurung S, Krishnan P, Ng DYM, Liu GYZ, Wan CKC, Xie R, Cheng SSM, Cowling BJ, Tsang DNC, Peiris M, Dhanasekaran V, Poon LLM. Genetic Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 among Travelers Arriving in Hong Kong. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021 Oct;27(10):2666-2668. Impact Factor 11.8 (2022), rank 16/161 immunology.
9. Siegers JY, Dhanasekaran V, Xie R, Deng YM, Patel S, Ieng V, Moselen J, Peck H, Aziz A, Sarr B, Chin S, Heng S, Khalakdina A, Kinzer M, Chau D, Raftery P, Duong V, Sovann L, Barr IG, Karlsson EA. Genetic and Antigenic Characterization of an Influenza A(H3N2) Outbreak in Cambodia and the Greater Mekong Subregion during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020. J Virol. 2021 Sep 29:JVI0126721. Impact Factor 5.4 (2022), rank 12/36 virology.