After 30 years in the United States, world-leading computational biologist Bao Zhirong has taken up a full-time position at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen. Renowned for his cancer genomics research, he will study brain circuits for insights into autism at his new lab. The move underscores the appeal of China's research environment.
Bao Zhirong, a world-leading figure in computational biology, has returned to China after 30 years in the United States. He has taken up a full-time position as a chair professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology’s (SUSTech) school of life and health sciences in Shenzhen since January.
Previously, Bao was at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center—one of the world’s most distinguished cancer hospitals—where he oversaw multimillion-dollar research projects funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Bao pioneered imaging technologies that allow scientists to track the behavior of individual cells in real time as organs form and diseases emerge. One of his most influential contributions is AceTree, a cell-tracking software developed in his lab that has become a critical tool in developmental biology. It has been widely used to study how birth defects arise, how cancer cells hijack normal growth pathways, and how stem cells might be guided to repair damaged tissues.
Recognition for Bao’s work includes the Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Award and the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award, which supports high-risk ideas with the potential to reshape biomedical science.
At SUSTech, Bao will study brain circuits for insights into autism. Bao did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
