Gongpu Zhao, Ph.D., joined Van Andel Institute in 2016 as manager of the Cryo-EM Core. He came to Grand Rapids from a postdoctoral fellowship in the Peijun Zhang Laboratory at University of Pittsburgh where, in 2013, he was part of the team that uncovered the structure of the HIV-1 virus’s capsid, the outer “shell” of the virus. Prior to joining the Zhang Laboratory, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the labs of Michael Treacy, Ph.D., and Peter Buseck, Ph.D., at Arizona State University. He earned his Ph.D. in physics in Dr. Lu-chang Qin’s lab from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.