Dr. Zhao obtained his B. Sci. degree in biology from Southwest University, China. He studied in University of Texas at Austin as a graduate student received the Ph.D. degree in 1990. Dr. Zhao spent three years in Prof. Don Bryant’s lab as a postdoctoral scholar studying photosynthetic electron transfer of cyanobacteria. Dr. Zhao was employed as an associated professor in Peking University in 1994 after a brief period in Applied Biosystems. He was promoted to professor in 1998. From 2007 to 2018, Dr. Zhao served as director in Institute of Hydrobiology, CAS. Dr. Zhao was elected a member of CAS in 2007 and a member of TWAS in 2010.

Dr. Zhao’s lab focuses on two aspects of cyanobacteria, the mechanisms of multicellularity and photosynthesis. The former includes heterocyst differentiation, cell to cell connections and communications, and the latter includes light harvesting of phycobilisomes and photosynthetic electron transfer.