Hongbo Zhao

Hongbo Zhao is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), effective September 2024. His research bridges biophysics, soft matter, active matter, physical chemistry, and applied mathematics, focusing on uncovering fundamental principles of soft and living matter through interdisciplinary approaches. Prior to UCSD, he was a Princeton Bioengineering Initiative (PBI2) Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University, working with Andrej Košmrlj, Clifford P. Brangwynne, and Sujit Datta. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT under Martin Z. Bazant, focusing on energy materials and data-driven discovery in chemical physics.

Key research interests include biological phase separation and phase transitions, physics of soft and active matter, and data-driven discovery from image-based datasets. His work explores how biomolecular condensates organize cellular components, the interplay between nonequilibrium activities and phase separation, and emergent phenomena in active matter systems. He develops computational tools and statistical mechanics frameworks to analyze complex systems across scales.

Zhao's recent publications highlight contributions to understanding condensate-driven DNA repositioning, chemotactic motility-induced phase separation, and learning reaction kinetics from X-ray imaging. His research has been supported by grants including the PBI2 Fellowship and collaborations with institutions like Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He leads the Zhao Research Group at UCSD, fostering an interdisciplinary environment for graduate and undergraduate students in theoretical and computational biophysics.