I’m currently a graduate student in the Mcbride Lab at Princeton University.
Email: zhileiz@princeton.edu
Google Scholar: Zhilei Zhao
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6624-6853

Education

PhD   Princeton University, NJ 08544, USA. 2015 - present
          Graduate Program, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
          Joint Graduate Degree Program, Princeton Neuroscience Institute
          Advisor: Prof. Carolyn (Lindy) McBride

BS     Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. 2010 - 2014
          School of Life Sciences

Experience

Teaching Assistant, 2018.02 - 2018.06
Animal Behavior, Princeton University
Instructor: Prof. James L. Gould

Teaching Assistant, 2016.02 - 2016.06
Neurogenetics and Evolution of Behaviors, Princeton University
Instructor: Prof. Carolyn (Lindy) McBride

Research Assistant, 2013.04 - 2015.05
Laboratory of Evolutionary and Population Genomics, Peking University, Beijing, China
Advisor: Prof. Jian Lu
– Functional divergence of duplicated microRNA genes.

Research Internship, 2013.06 - 2013.09
Translational Science Group, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Advisor: Prof. Namjoon Cho
– Extended-DLVO modeling of supported lipid bilayers.

Research Assistant , 2012.10 - 2013.04
State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, Peking University, Beijing, China
Advisor: Prof. Zenyi Chang
– The function of Heat Shock Protein in C. elegans.

Conferences

European Chemoreception Research Organization. 2020.09
– Poster: A robust neural code for human odour in the Aedes aegypti mosquito brain.

New Genetic Tools for Non-Model Organisms. 2019.03
– Poster: Developing standard landing sites in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Neuro-Evo: A Comparative Approach to Cracking Circuit Function II. 2018.05
– Poster: Neural basis of host preference evolution in mosquitoes.

Gordon Research Conferences Neuroethology: Behavior, Evolution & Neurobiology. 2017.06
– Poster: Neural basis of host preference evolution in mosquitoes.

Cold Spring Harbor-Asia Conference: RNA Biology. 2014.11
– Poster: Functional divergence of duplicated microRNA genes.

Cold Spring Harbor-Asia Conference: Evolutionary Genetics & Genomics. 2014.10
– Poster: Stop codon read-through as a conserved mechanism for stress response in Drosophila.

The 3rd Young Bioinformatics PI Workshop. 2014.09

Beijing Area Fly Meeting. 2014.04
– Talk: Protein translation diversity in Drosophila revealed by ribosome profiling under different environmental stresses.

Awards

First Prize and Best Presentation. 2013.12
6th Symposium of Undergraduate Student Summer Internship Program.
– Project: Extended-DLVO modeling of supported lipid bilayers.

Skills

Experimental
– Transgenesis, e.g. CRISPR/Cas9 and transposon-based methods.
– In vivo two-photon calcium imaging.
– Immunostaining and confocal imaging.
– Molecular biology. Next-generation sequencing.
– Animal behavioral tests.
– Constructing custom devices. Electronics.

Computational
– Familiarity with Python, R, Matlab.
– Familiarity with Arduino boards and control.
– Image analysis and computer vision.
– Statistical methods, e.g. generalized linear model.