Zhao Xu, Ph.D., is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Hainan Medical University–University of Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, working in collaboration with Dr. Feifei Yin. His research focuses on the immune evasion mechanisms of Orientia tsutsugamushi and the identification of key host interaction factors involved in infection, while also contributing to the discovery and pathogenic mechanism studies of emerging tropical infectious disease pathogens. His doctoral research systematically investigated the molecular mechanisms of emerging pathogens, virus–host interactions, and the regulation of innate immune responses. In particular, his work focused on interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and their roles in restricting replication of emerging tick-borne bunyaviruses such as Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus (SFTSV), aiming to construct host restriction networks and elucidate immune evasion strategies of highly pathogenic arboviruses, thereby identifying potential antiviral targets.