Biography

Dr. Tao Zuo is a professor at Sun Yat-Sen University and the Sixth affiliated Hospital of SYSU. His research interests include gut microbiome in human health and disease, with special interest in microbiome ‘dark matters’ (virome/phageome, mycobiome, archaeaome) and their roles, interactions and mechanisms of actions in disease pathogenesis as well as therapeutics. He leads the Microbiome research Lab at SYSU Research Institute of Gastroenterology (Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology), where he is also appointed as Associate Director.

Interests
  • Gut microbiome
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Fecal microbiota transplantation
Education

  • Postdoc in Microbiome and Digestive disease, 2015-2018

    The Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • PhD in Gut Mucosal Immunology, 2010-2015

    Harvard University and Ocean Univeristy of China

  • BSc in Microbiology, 2006-2010

    Ocean Univeristy of China

Research Areas

Cell Host & Microbes

40%

Metagenomics

30%

Medicine and Therapeutics

30%

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Deputy Director
Key Laboratory of Human Microbiome and Chronic Diseases (Sun Yat-sen University), Ministry of Education, China
Jan 2023 – Present Guangzhou, China
 
 
 
 
 
Associate Director
Center for Laboratory Animals, Sun Yat-sen University
Mar 2022 – Present Guangzhou, China
 
 
 
 
 
Professor
Sun Yat-sen University
Jan 2021 – Present Guangzhou, China
 
 
 
 
 
Associate Director
Guangdong Institute of Gastroenterology, Sun Yat-sen University The Sixth Affiliated Hospital
Jan 2021 – Present Guangzhou, China
 
 
 
 
 
Research Assistant Professor
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Nov 2018 – Dec 2020 Hong Kong, China

Projects

*
The role of gut phages and fungi in human health and disease Microbe-microbe interaction and its relationship to disease pathogenesis Precision microbial therapy

Our Team

Members

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WEIJIE WEN

Postdoc

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut Virome

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XIAOMING YUAN

Postdoc

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut Virome

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ZEYU ZHAO

Postdoc

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut Virome

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YUE LI

PhD student

Gut Archaeome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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ZIYU HUANG

PhD Student

Gut Mycobiome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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GUANNAN WANG

PhD Student

Gut Archaeome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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FENG ZHANG

MD Student

Microbiome, Diet

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YUFENG JIN

PhD Student

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut Virome

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NENGNENG LI

PhD Student

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut Virome

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ZHANGXUE WEN

PhD Student

Gut Archaeome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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ZHIYANG FENG

Master Student

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Gut Virome

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JIELI LI

Technician

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YANCAI LI

Technician

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XIAOWU BAI

Postdoc (Alumni)

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ZHIRUI CAO

PhD Student (Alumni)

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YU LU

Postdoc (Alumni)

Gut microbiome, Inflammatory Bowel Disease

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RUNPING SU

Master Student (Alumni)

Gut Microbiome

Recent Publications

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Ziyu Huang#, Yunyun Liu#, Yushan Wu#, Feng Zhang, Leyi Yu, Shanshan Gao, Weijie Wen, Guannan Wang, Runping Su, Pei Xia, Qiming Zhou, Yiran Bie, Peishan Hu, Elke Burgermeister, Ping Lan*, Xiaojian Wu*, Hu Zhang, Fen Zhang, Emad M. El-Omar*, Tao Zuo* (2026). Gut mucosal mycobiome profiling in Crohn’s disease uncovers an AMP-mediated anti-inflammatory effect of Cladosporium sphaerospermum. Nature Metabolism.

Tao Zuo* (2025). Pushing the frontier of gut microbiome health cross-kingdom and cross-organ. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

Fen Zhang#, Guicheng Zhou#, Matthias Schewe, Sabine E Kulling, Yu Ding*, Dariush Mozaffarian*, Tao Zuo* (2025). Dietary urbanization destabilizes host-gut microbiome homeostasis and informs precision nutrition for human health. Cell Metabolism.

Weijie Wen, Changqing Yang, Tao Zuo* (2025). Viewing MASLD through an integrative gut microbiome lens. Nature Metabolism.

Nengneng Li, Yue Li, Ziyu Huang, Zhirui Cao, Cha Cao, Xiang Gao*, Tao Zuo* (2025). Faecal phageome transplantation alleviates intermittent intestinal inflammation in IBD and the timing of transplantation matters: a preclinical proof-of-concept study in mice. Gut.

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