Rao Zihe (, born September 1950) is a Chinese

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study Biology, biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from Molecule, molecular to organismic ...

and former president of

Nankai University Nankai University (NKU or Nankai; ) is a national public research university located in Tianjin, China. It is a prestigious Chinese state Class A Double First Class University approved by the central government of China, and a member of the fo ...

. He is an academician of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

and of

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

Biography

Rao was born in September 1950 in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, and graduated from

University of Science and Technology of China A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in 1977. He received his master's degree from Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1982, and PhD in biophysics from

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in 1989. He subsequently worked as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

in David Stuart laboratory in

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. In 1997, he returned to China and established the Structural Biology Laboratory in

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

. He became the director of

Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences The Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, based in Beijing, China, focuses on biophysics, biophysically oriented basic research in the life sciences. It was established by Bei Shizhang in 1958, from the former Beijing Experimenta ...

in 2003, and the president of

in 2006. Rao published the structure of a calcium binding human epidermal growth factor-like protein, the first crystal structure in the EGF family, in 1995. During the

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''sever ...

outbreak, Rao's laboratory solved the first crystal structure of a

SARS coronavirus Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1; or Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, SARS-CoV) is a strain of coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the respiratory illness responsible for th ...

protein, the SARS-CoV Main Protease. Rao was elected a member of the

in 2003, and a member of the

Third World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

in 2004. Rao was also the president of Biophysics Society of China from 2006 to 2017.

References

External links

Zihe Rao, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Zihe 1950 births Living people Biologists from Jiangsu Chinese biophysicists Educators from Nanjing Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Physicists from Jiangsu Presidents of Nankai University Scientists from Nanjing Tsinghua University faculty TWAS fellows University of Melbourne alumni University of Science and Technology of China alumni