Zhichao Zhou, PhD

Biography

Zhichao graduated from Wuhan University, China with a bachelor degree in general biology in 2010, and was trained in Microbial Genetics Lab in Department of Microbiology at Wuhan University and China Center for Type Culture Collection (CCTCC) with fundamental microbiology and bioinformatic knowledge.

 

After graduation, he joined the Environmental Microbiology & Toxicology Lab at HKU and worked with Dr. Ji-Dong Gu on the single-gene based biogeographic and ecological studies on novel microbial groups (e.g., mcrA, pmoA, An-nirS/Sc-nirS, hzs, ccs and nod genes) and metagenome-assembled genome-based ecological and evolutionary studies on novel/newly identified archaeal groups, e.g., Hydrothermarchaeota, Bathyarchaeota, Thermoprofundales, Woesearchaeota, and Asgard superphylum. He also participated in studies of petroleum microbiology, and wastewater treatment plant nitrogen cycling and antibiotic resistome.

 

After he obtained his Ph.D. in 2017, he moved to The Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, studying sympatric speciation of coastal mangrove rhizospheric microbial populations, microbial genome diversification and adaption, and microbial genome-based bioinformatic tool development. He is skilled in metagenome and metatranscriptome analyses and shows broad interests in human and environmental-related microbiome and virome that are significant on public health and environmental protection and maintenance.

 

Research interests:

Biogeochemistry studies based on metagenome-assembled genomes

Marine and coastal microbial ecology and environmental microbiology

Environmental viromics