Dr. Zhang is Baiyang Chair Professor of Tianjin University, Founding Director of Tianjin University Center for Biosafety Research and Strategy (TJU-CBRS), and Deputy director of Frontier Science Center of Synthetic Biology of Ministry of Education of China. Dr. Zhang graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1996 with a doctoral degree in microbiology. Prior to joining Tianjin University, Dr. Zhang was a faculty with Arizona State University, and a Senior Principal Investigator with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Zhang is currently Chief Scientist for the National Key R&D Research Program of China – Synthetic Biology program, Chief Investigator for the Key Strategic Project of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology on dual-use biotechnology governance, and elected member of the Sciences and Technology Council of the Ministry of Education of China.