Dr. Zhao has over two decades of experience in developing and industrializing technologies for biomanufacturing of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and a proven track record of translating scientific successes into valuable technologies and products. He is Vice President of R&D at Amyris, and General Manager, Amyris China. Over the past eleven years, Dr. Zhao has led a multidisciplinary R&D team and delivered innovative technologies that enabled the advancement of Amyris’ synthetic biology platform and commercial-scale production of a variety of bio-based products including artemisinin, an anti-malaria drug, and bio-farnesene, a renewable chemical. Prior to joining Amyris, Dr. Zhao spent six years at Diversa Corp (now BASF) developing novel enzyme products. Dr. Zhao received his doctorate from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in the field of microbial pathway engineering and enzymology, a M.S in organic chemistry and a B.S in chemistry from Fudan University, Shanghai.