Chao Zhong is currently a principal investigator and the center director for the newly established Center for Materials Synthetic Biology (CMSB) at the Institute of Synthetic Biology (iSynBio), Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Dr. Zhong’s research interests lie at the interface between Synthetic Biology and Materials Science. A major research focus of his lab currently is to leverage the power of synthetic biology to develop engineered living materials (ELMs), with an eye towards either medical or energy application. He is the recipient of several awards, such as “the National Science Fund of China for Distinguished Young Scholars”. Dr. Zhong currently serves as the topic editor for ACS Synthetic Biology (since Jan 2023), and the editorial board member for several international journals, including Materials Today Bio, Current Research in Chemical Biology and Materials Futures.