About Aoshu

Aoshu Zhong (钟奥书), Ph.D.

2019-current, Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health (NIH); advisor: Gisela (Gigi) Storz.

2018-2019, Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology; advisor: Jacqueline K. Barton.

2012-2018, Ph.D. in Division of Chemical Biology & Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin; advisor: Hung-wen (Ben) Liu; thesis title "Biosynthetic Studies of Oxetanocin A and Mechanistic Studies of a B12-Dependent Radical SAM Enzyme".

2008-2012, B.S. in Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China; advisor: Zhen Li.

CV (updated July 7, 2025); Google Scholar.

Email: zhonga@wfu.edu

Selected awards

2024 NICHD Early Career Award (Competitive, internal funding opportunity for early-stage intramural researchers in basic, clinical, and translational sciences, aimed at promoting their careers and supporting proposals beneficial for their development.)
2023 NIH Stadtman Investigator Semi-finalist (Top 25% of applicants)
2023 NICHD Early Career Award
2022 NICHD Early Career Award
2022 NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence 2023 (Authors of abstracts with the top 25% of scores are recognized as winners)
2021 NICHD Early Career Award
2020 NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence 2021
2018 Graduate School Dissertation Writing Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin
2017 Jaime N. Delgado Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Medicinal Chemistry
2017 Graduate School Continuing Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin
2017 Professional Development Award at The University of Texas at Austin
2017 Pharmacy Graduate Students Association Travel Scholarship
2016 Graduate School Continuing Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin
2011 Zhangren Huang Special Scholarship at Wuhan University
2010 National Scholarship in China

Research funding

NICHD Early Career Award

Role: PI

Dates: $10,000 for Fiscal Year 2024

NICHD Early Career Award

Title: Identify the target site and evolve the counter-defense mechanism for Rpn phage defense proteins.

Role: PI

Dates: $25,000 for Fiscal Year 2023

NICHD Early Career Award

Title: Determine substrate specificity and DNA binding domain for a novel family of phage defense proteins.

Role: PI

Dates: $25,000 for Fiscal Year 2022

NICHD Early Career Award

Title: Molecular basis for the novel anti-phage Rpn proteins.

Role: PI

Dates: $25,000 for Fiscal Year 2021

NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence 2023

Dates: $1,500 for Fiscal Year 2023 towards conference travel or experimental expenses

NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence 2021

Dates: $1,500 for Fiscal Year 2021 towards conference travel or experimental expenses

Teaching Experience

Summer 2024 NIH Virtual Summer Opportunities to Advance Research Program Instructor
Summer 2023 NIH Virtual Summer Opportunities to Advance Research Program Instructor
Summer 2022 NIH Summer Internship Program Instructor
Summer 2021 NIH Summer Internship Program Instructor
Fall 2017 Teaching Assistant for Basic Principles of Medicinal Chemistry Lab
Spring 2017 Teaching Assistant for Research Opportunities in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Fall 2016 Teaching Assistant for Basic Principles of Medicinal Chemistry Lab
Spring 2016 Teaching Assistant for Research Opportunities in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Fall 2015 Teaching Assistant for Basic Principles of Medicinal Chemistry Lab

Mentoring

Postbac: Katherine Klier (2020-2021, currently a graduate student at The University of Wisconsin–Madison)

Summer students: Aakash M. Patel (2021, NIH Graduate Summer Opportunities to Advance Research Program, currently an Immunology Post-Doctoral Medical Affairs Fellow at UCB); Andrew Dorfeuille (2019, Caltech Amgen Scholars Program, currently a graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Participation in mentoring a group of nine postbacs through monthly journal club.

Mentored several first-year PhD students, including rotation students, at The University of Texas at Austin.