
Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. degree in plant cell biology in 1996 from East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. His Ph.D. project involved studying the structure and function of compartmental organization of the plant Golgi apparatus using high-pressure freezing and freeze-substitution techniques in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy. Dr. Zhang later moved to the University of California San Francisco where his research focused on the 3-D structure of the polytene chromosome in Drosophila larvae using electron tomography. Dr. Zhang also spent two years at Stanford University where he studied the mechanism of temporal lobe epilepsy. Since joining NIBIB in 2002, Dr. Zhang has provided his expertise to NIH researchers on projects involving transmission electron microscopy techniques, negative staining, and imuno-electron microscopy.