Prof. Yunjie Zhao | Biological Networks | Research Excellence Award

Prof. Yunjie Zhao is a distinguished biophysicist who earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2012, where he conducted pioneering research on computational prediction of non-coding RNA structures under the mentorship of Prof. Yi Xiao, following his B.S. in Physics from the same institution. He advanced his expertise as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at The George Washington University with Prof. Chen Zeng, contributing significantly to de novo protein design and bionetwork modeling. Since 2016, he has been a faculty member at Central China Normal University, becoming a full Professor in 2019, and has taught a wide range of courses including Machine Learning, Biophysics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Physics. Prof. Zhao is an active member of several professional societies, including the Chinese Physical Society and the Biophysical Society of China, and previously the American Physical Society. He serves as an editorial board member for leading journals such as Briefings in Bioinformatics, iScience, Pharmaceuticals, Life, Biomolecules, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and Scientific Reports, and is a frequent reviewer for top-tier publications including Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Genetics, Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Communications, and Physical Review Letters. His research contributions are further reflected in multiple granted patents spanning protein–ligand binding site prediction, RNA contact prediction, plant lectin polymerization peptide inhibitors, and protein drug binding pocket prediction, underscoring his impactful contributions to computational biology and biophysics.