Guocai Zhong

Guocai Zhong is an Assistant Professor at UMass Chan Medical School within the T.H. Chan School of Medicine and Department of Genetic and Cellular Medicine. He also holds appointments at the RNA Therapeutics Institute and Horae Gene Therapy Center, with prior affiliations at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School and Scripps Research Institute.

• Education: PhD in Pathobiology from Harbin Medical University, with training at National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS), China

Dr. Zhong's research focuses on RNA switch engineering and regulatable gene therapy for applications in genetic diseases, metabolic disorders, infectious diseases, and cancers. His lab develops synthetic RNA-based tools for precise AAV gene expression control and cell-based therapies, emphasizing dynamism, non-immunogenicity, and clinical scalability.

Publication trends highlight his work on RNA switches for AAV gene therapy regulation (2016-2025), ACE2 decoys against coronaviruses (2020-2023), and CRISPR/Cas12a optimization for gene editing (2017-2021). His innovations bridge RNA structure-function analysis, synthetic biology, and translational medicine.

• Scientific Awards
  • 2021 Baruch S. Blumberg Prize (hepatitis B research)
  • 2022 Future Science Prize in Life Sciences

Dr. Zhong's lab (Zhong Lab) also explores collaborations in metabolic disease therapeutics, RNA-based programmable systems, and antiviral strategies. His work addresses critical safety challenges in long-term AAV gene therapy and inducible CRISPR systems.