Prof. Yong ZHAO is a professor in Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology. He used to be the Deputy Director, the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Director of the National Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology; Director of the Department of Immunology, Cunji Medical College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Vice Chairman of Transplantation Immunology Committee, Chinese Society for Immunology. Editor of Exp Rev of Clin Immunol, Cell and Molecular Immunology. Received the National "Outstanding Youth Fund". He had published more than 200 SCI articles, including Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, JEM, Blood, Journal of Immunology, and American Journal of Transplantation. Published two book "Xenotransplantation Immunology" and "Transplant Immune Tolerance" as Editor-in-chief.

Professor Zhao's research integrates multi-omics, computational biology, immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and synthetic biology to develop immune tolerance-inducing therapies and novel biologics for clinical applications. His work focuses on transplantation, autoimmune diseases, and cancer, aiming to create new immune cell-based and bioengineered drugs.

Education Background

September 1990-July 1993: Ph.D. in Biology, Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences

September 1987-July 1990: Master's Degree in Radiomedicine, Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences

September 1982-July 1987: Bachelor's Degree in Radiomedicine, Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences

Professional Experience

October 2022-Present: Chair Professor, Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology

April 2003-October 2022: Professor, State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

May 2000-April 2004: Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, USA

July 1995-August 2000: Postdoctoral research associate, Bone Marrow Transplantation Section, Transplantation Biology Research Center, Surgical Service, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

July 1993-September 1995: Postdoctoral researcher at Project Research Center, Mitsubishi Kasei Institute of Life Sciences, Tokyo, Japan

He is among the Global Top 2% Scientists list. Currently serves as a council member of the Chinese Society for Immunology, and Deputy Chairman of the Transplant Immunology Committee of the Chinese Society for Immunology. Editorial board member of journals such as Expert Review of Clinical Immunology and Cellular & Molecular Immunology.

Awards and Honors

2024: First Prize of the Science and Technology Award from the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine

2023: Tier-A Distinguished Talent, Pengcheng Peacock Plan

2021-2023: Elsevier Highly Cited Chinese Researcher (Basic Medicine)

2017: Director, State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology

2009: National Talents Program

2005: National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars

2003: CAS "Hundred Talents Program"

Technology Transfers:

1. Medical Application of Wip1 Inhibitors, 2016 (Authorized in 2020)

2. Car-T cells and their application to treat hypersensitive diseases (pending 2025)

Major Research Projects:

As Chief Scientist, led multiple high-profile research projects, including the National Key Research and Development Program, Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation, and Special Projects of the Shenzhen Medical Research Fund, driving advancements in synthetic biology and biomedical research.

Representative Publications:

1. "mTORC2 orchestrates monocytic and granulocytic lineage commitment by an ATF5-mediated pathway",iScience,2023, Corresponding Author

2. "Wip1 inhibits neutrophil extracellular traps to promote abscess formation in mice by directly dephosphorylating Coronin-1a",Cellular & Molecular Immunology,2023, Corresponding Author

3. "Single-cell transcriptomic analysis reveals transcriptional and cell subpopulation differences between human and pig immune cells",Genes & Genomics,2023, Corresponding Author