Feng Zhang (Chinese: 张锋; pinyin: Zhāng Fēng; born October 22, 1981) is a Chinese–American biochemist.

Zhang was born in China in 1981 and given the name 锋 (which means "point of a spear; edge of a tool; vanguard").

[1] He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and Central Academy in Des Moines, graduating in 2000.

[2] He then received his PhD in chemical and biological engineering from Stanford University in 2009 under the guidance of Karl Deisseroth where he developed the technologies behind optogenetics with Edward Boyden.

[5][6] Zhang's lab is focused on using synthetic biology to develop technologies for genome and epigenome engineering to study neurobiology.

[14][15][16] Zhang, Doudna, and other colleagues from Harvard founded Editas Medicine in September 2013 to develop and commercialize CRISPR-based therapies.

[18] His lab has also developed a sensitive diagnostic nucleic acid detection protocol that is based on CRISPR termed SHERLOCK (Specific High sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing) that is able to detect and distinguish strains of viruses and bacteria present in as low as attomolar (10−18 M) concentration.