His primary research interest is on the gene regulation of cell fate, with a particular focus on how gene-gene interactions determine cell fates, such as stem cell differentiation. In order to study a stem cell’s fate after receiving environmental signals, his laboratory has developed microfluidic devices to study the gene expression of a single cell. Zhong received a B.S. degree in molecular biology from CSU San Jose, an M.S. degree in computational biology from USC, and a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from USC.