By DoM Communications | Date published: March 5, 2026
Wenqing Zhou Selected as 2026 Recipient of the Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research
Wenqing Zhou, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Innate Immunity, has been selected as a 2026 recipient of the Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research. This award will support the major research focus in the lab of Dr. Zhou, uncovering novel sensing pathways that drive immune tolerance to the microbiota and foster gut homeostasis. With this award, Dr. Zhou and her team will investigate the fundamental mechanisms by which the gut senses nonharmful microbiota and elicits tolerogenic responses, along with how these pathways fail in human disease.
By addressing these critical gaps in mucosal immunology, their research has the potential to open new therapeutic avenues to restore immune homeostasis in barrier tissues and treat inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and beyond. Additionally, with the support from the Smith Family Award, Dr. Zhou and her team will be able to conduct essential experiments, generate new and strong preliminary data, and lay the groundwork for future grant applications.