About Aoshu

Aoshu Zhong, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University.

CV (updated July 22, 2026); Google Scholar.

Email: zhonga@wfu.edu

Training and education

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

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

Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin; advisor: Hung-wen (Ben) Liu.

B.S., Wuhan University; advisor: Zhen Li.

Selected awards

2026 Wake Forest University Faculty Development Award
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
2010 National Scholarship in China

Research funding

Wake Forest University Faculty Development Fund (The Kulynych Faculty Support Fund)

Dates: $3,000 for 2025-26 Academic Year

Wake Forest University Provost’s Fund for Faculty Travel

Dates: $2,000 for 2025-26 Academic Year

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