获得人才项目：
2021 国家自然科学基金优秀青年科学基金项目（海外）， 国家自然科学基金委
2021 上海市领军人才项目（海外）， 上海市委组织部
研究方向：
1. 宿主先天免疫应答的分子机制研究。
2. 病原微生物致病以及免疫逃逸的分子机制研究。
3. 基于蛋白质结构的激动剂和抑制剂的研发。
科研项目：
2021 国家自然科学基金优青项目（海外） “抗病原微生物先天免疫” 主持
代表性论著：
1. Baoyu Zhao#, Pengbiao Xu#, Chesley M. Rowlett, Tao Jing, Omkar Shinde, Yuanjiu Lei, A. Phillip West, Wenshe Ray Liu* and Pingwei Li*. The Molecular Basis of Tight Nuclear Tethering and Inactivation of cGAS. Nature 587, 673–677 (2020)
2. Baoyu Zhao#, Fenglei Du#, Pengbiao Xu, Chang Shu, Banumathi Sankaran, Samantha L. Bell, Mengmeng Liu, Yuanjiu Lei, Xinsheng Gao, Xiaofeng Fu, Fanxiu Zhu, Yang Liu, Arthur Laganowsky, Xueyun Zheng, Jun-Yuan Ji, A. Phillip West, Robert O. Watson and Pingwei Li*. A conserved PLPLRT/SD motif of STING mediates the recruitment and activation of TBK1. Nature 569, 718–722 (2019)
3. Baoyu Zhao#, Guanghui Yi#, Fenglei Du#, Yin-Chih Chuang, Robert C. Vaughan, Banumathi Sankaran, C. Cheng Kao* and Pingwei Li*. Structure and function of the Zika virus full-length NS5 protein. Nature Communications 8, 14762 (2017)
4. Baoyu Zhao#, Chang Shu#, Xinsheng Gao, Banumathi Sankaran, Fenglei Du, Catherine L. Shelton, Andrew B. Herr, Jun-Yuan Ji and Pingwei Li*. Structural basis for concerted recruitment and activation of IRF-3 by innate immune adaptor proteins. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113 (24), E3403-E3412 (2016)
5. Baoyu Zhao, Sonu Gandhi, Cai Yuan, Zhipu Luo, Rui Li, Henrik
Gårdsvoll, Valentina de Lorenzi, Nicolai Sidenius, Mingdong Huang* and Michael Ploug*. Stabilizing a flexible interdomain hinge region harboring the SMB binding site drives uPAR into its closed conformation. Journal of Molecular Biology 427 (6 Pt B), 1389-1403 (2015)