People

Meet The Team

We're a diverse group of technicians, researchers, students, and scholars

Zibo Chen

Zibo Chen is the Mengxue assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at Westlake University. He received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry in the labs of David Baker and Frank DiMaio at the University of Washington and worked on mammalian synthetic biology with Michael Elowitz at Caltech as a Damon Runyon Fellow. His work focuses on programming biology using proteins as the coding language. Outside of the lab, Zibo is an instrument rated pilot and enjoys flying around in a small Cessna.

CV

Awards: Science & SciLifeLab, BWF CASI, Damon Runyon, Dale F. Frey, Dirks, Protein Society HNOP, TR35, Forbes U30

Graduate Students

Xinwen obtained her BE degree in Electrical Automation from The University of Jinan in 2019.

Hometown: Linyi, China.

Fun fact: Xinwen believes that we’re living in a simulation.

Xinwen Fan

Yuanqi received her master’s degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2022.

Hometown: Changde, China.

Fun fact: Yuanqi believes that Squirtle and Pikachu is the most powerful combo in Pokemon.

Yuanqi Jia

Zhuo received her bachelor's degree in horticulture from Zhejiang university in 2022.

Hometown: Lishui, China.

Fun fact: Zhuo herself does not know why she is always feeling hungry. One possible reason is that someone told her to stay hungry and stay foolish when she was much younger.

Zhuo Mao

Yi received his bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Shenzhen University in 2023.

Hometown: Qingyuan, China

Fun fact: Yi thinks the lab is a better place to sleep than the dormitory.

Yi Peng

Xiaoyu obtained his Bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China, school of life sciences in 2024.

Hometown: Hangzhou, China.

Fun fact: Xiaoyu is an energetic werewolf who once climbed up a 5200m snow mountain. He is now well-trained to not show any aggressive behaviors during a full moon.

Xiaoyu Wu

Zihang received his bachelor's degree from Zhejiang University, college of agriculture and biotechnology in 2024.

Hometown: Lishui, China.

Fun fact: Zihang is a plant and insect enthusiast. Don't be surprised if he suddenly talks to you about what family a certain plant belongs to.

Zihang Ye

Dingchen received his bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from Wuhan University in 2022.

Hometown: Shangrao, China.

Fun fact: Dingchen is exactly the same height as his favorite footballer, Thiago Alcantara.

Dingchen Yu

Postdoctoral Scholars

Yishen received his PhD degree in Pharmacy from Wuhan University in 2024.

Hometown: Wenzhou, China.

Fun fact: Doubao (a one-year-old West Highland white terrier) is Yishen’s best friend from England.

Yishen Liu

Linghui received his PhD degree in Biophysics from The Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2024.

Hometown: Fuzhou, China.

Fun fact: Linghui is unable to recall his dreams after waking up each morning.

Linghui Tang

Xin received his PhD degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Peking University in 2023.

Hometown: Jinhua, China.

Fun fact: Xin has a strong interest in all kinds of animals, especially butterflies and jellyfish.

Xin Xu

Jiawei received his PhD degree in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Wuhan University in 2023.

Hometown: Wuhan, China.

Fun fact: Jiawei believes the answers we are seeking are already around us, we just need to be patient and observe.

Jiawei Zhou

Staff

Fen graduated from Hefei University of Technology in 2020 with a master's degree in food science and engineering.

Hometown: Anqing, China.

Fun fact: Fen's interest is to manage scientific research (that is why she joined us as the lab manager).

Fen Cai

Lab Manager

Tianyang received his master's degree in Linguistics from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2020.

Hometown: Wenzhou, China.

Fun fact: Tianyang believes Elden Ring could have been a better game without its DLC.

Tianyang Chen

Administrative Assistant (interim)

Jing received her bachelor's degree in food science and engineering from Zhejiang Gongshang University in 2019.

Hometown: Zhoushan, China.

Fun fact: Jing enjoys playing piano, chess, and watching suspense movies.

Jing Gan

Administrative Assistant (on leave)

Yuchang received her bachelor’s degree in biological science from the East China University of Science and Technology in 2025.

Hometown: Shanghai, China.

Fun fact: Yuchang can read Ba Zi, a form of traditional Chinese fortune-telling. If science doesn’t work out, her backup plan is to become a fortune-teller on the street.

Yuchang Sun

Research Technician

Yuxuan received his Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from China Agricultural University in 2021.

Hometown: Beijing, China.

Fun fact: Yuxuan is an Agatha Christie fan but he has never read And Then There Were None.

Yuxuan Yan

Research Technician

Alumni

Bokai Cao, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025

Ruiqi Chen, Visitor

Last seen: New York University, graduate student

From 2022 to 2023

Yue Dai, Summer Student

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2024 to 2024

Sacha Fouquay O'Donnell, Visitor

Last seen: University College London, masters program

From 2022 to 2023

Yu Guan, Summer Student

Last seen: Undergraduate student at Nankai University

From 2024 to 2024

Boyu Jiang, Summer Student

Last seen: Undergraduate student at Nankai University

From 2024 to 2024

Yanzhang Jiang, Visitor

Last seen: Research assistant at Westlake University

From 2023 to 2025

Chengqian Li, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025

Bingkun Li, Research Technician

Last seen: PhD student at University College London

From 2023 to 2024

Qinguo Liu, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2024 to 2024

Guojing Pan, Research Technician

Last seen: Shandong University, graduate student

From 2023 to 2024

Hongxu Peng, Research Technician

Last seen: Chengdu, Sichuan

From 2022 to 2023

Jingqi Qi, Summer Student

Last seen: University of Washington, graduate student

From 2023 to 2023

Xinying (Cindy) Ren, Visitor

Last seen: Eastern Institute for Advanced Study, assistant professor

From 2023 to 2023

Fangying Rong, Visitor

Last seen: Undergraduate student at Shandong Agricultural University

From 2024 to 2025

Wuyang Shi, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2024 to 2024

Jinglin Wang, Research Technician

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2023 to 2025

Jiahe Wang, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025

Chenxiao Wang, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025

Kaijun Wang, Summer Student

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2024 to 2024

Bingze Wu, Graduate Student

Last seen: Aspiring game developer

From 2022 to 2024

Yibing Yang, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2022 to 2023

Xia Yao, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025

Anlan Zhang, Summer Student

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2024 to 2024

Junyao Zhang, Summer Student

Last seen: Undergraduate student at Tsinghua University

From 2023 to 2023

Xiaowen Zhang, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025

Aaron Zhang, Summer Student

Last seen: Undergraduate student at UCLA

From 2023 to 2023

Wenqin Zhou, Visitor

Last seen: PhD student at Westlake University

From 2025 to 2025