Dr. Yuliang Zhao earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Science from the Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1999. He held faculty appointments at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing before becoming a member of Houston Methodist Research Institute in 2011. Dr. Zhao also holds adjunct faculty appointments at Peking University (Beijing), the Medical School of Jilin University (Changchun), and Sichuan University (Chengdu).

As the the founder and Director of CAS Key Lab for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials & Nanosafety, he directs a research program that is developing a new generation of cancer chemotherapeutics using low-toxic nanoparticles. Dr. Zhao has also been a member of nine study sections and review boards in China and Europe. He is the founder and Director of Research Center for Cancer Nanotechnology at Tianjin Cancer Hospital in China. He has served as the Associate Editor and editorial board member of seven scientific research journals since 2006.

Dr. Zhao's research program focuses on nanotoxicology, cancer nanotechnology, and nanochemistry. He is developing molecular dynamics modeling for designing low-toxic nanosurfaces for cancer nanotechnology applications, and for lowering the toxicity of nanomaterials in living systems. A major aim of his research is to understand the mechanisms of nanotoxicity of engineered nanoparticles in vivo. In addition, a major research goal is to characterize the structure-function relationships between the tumor microenvironment (like extracellular matrices) and engineered nanoparticles that inhibit tumor growth and metastasis. Dr. Zhao's research team at CAS collaborates with Dr. Mauro Ferrari, Dr. Ye "Tony" Hu and other faculty members of the Department of Nanomedicine at the Research Institute in the research of cancer nanotechnology and nanotechnology based biomarker identification.