Hongbo Zhang is currently a doctoral student working with Professor Johan Auwerx at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. He obtained his Master's degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China in 2010. Before moving to EPFL, he stayed shortly at the University of Zurich studying polycystic kidney disease. He is now working on deciphering the role of lysine aceteylases and deacetylases in energy metabolism and stem cell function.