Expert in the field of microbial molecular ecology, academician of the American Academy of Microbiology, distinguished professor of the School of Life Sciences and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, director of the Microbial Molecular Ecology and Ecogenomics Laboratory, and director of the Nutritional Systems Biology Laboratory, Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine.

Zhao Liping's research directions are: microbial molecular ecology (new technologies for structural analysis of microbial communities, microbial community metagenomics); human systems biology (the relationship between changes in intestinal flora structure and function and the occurrence and development of metabolic diseases); and application research of multivariate statistics and bioinformatics in the field of microbial ecology.