Professor Dr. Feng Zhang

Biography

Feng Zhang is a molecular biologist focused on improving human health. He has played an integral role in the development of revolutionary technologies, including optogenetics and CRISPR-Cas systems, pioneering the use of Cas9 for genome editing and discovering the CRISPR-Cas12 and Cas13 systems while developing therapeutic and diagnostic applications. His current research at the Zhang laboratory is centered on the discovery of novel biological systems and processes, uncovering their mechanisms, and developing molecular tools and therapies to study and treat human disease. Zhang is a core member of the Broad Institute, an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and holds the title of James Patricia Poitras Professor of Neuroscience at MIT. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a National Academy Inventors fellow.

Research Interests