Zhang Linqi

Professor Linqi Zhang is the Director of the Comprehensive AIDS Research Center at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and held an Associate Professorship at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center of Rockefeller University in New York before joining Tsinghua University in 2007. Prof. Zhang's research focuses on HIV-1 pathogenesis and vaccine development, and has recently expanded to the field of emerging and re-emerging human viral pathogens such as SARS-CoV-1/2 and MERS-CoV. Using cutting-edge antibody and combinatorial antigen library techniques, Prof. Zhang’s research aims to characterize protective antibody immunity in infected humans and rational design of effective vaccines and therapies against the viral infection. Professor Zhang’s team developed an antibody combination therapy (amubarvimab/romlusevimab) that demonstrated 80% efficacy in reducing hospitalization and death among the high-risk population in a US NIH-sponsored multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. The combination therapy was the first approved by China National Medical Products Administration on December 9, 2021 to treat adults and pediatric COVID-19 patients. Professor Zhang has also been actively developing next generation COVID-19 vaccines capable of preventing acquisition and transmission through mucosal immunization. Professor Zhang is the recipient of the National Outstanding Young Scientist Award and privileged Changjiang Professorship. He has published extensively and is ranked at the top among the most cited Chinese researchers in the field of microbiology and immunology. Professor Zhang has also served as a member of national expert and advisory board to the Chinese government and several international organizations on HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases.