Zhao-Wen Wang is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at University of Connecticut School of Medicine in the USA. He was originally from China. After receiving his PhD degree from Michigan State University in 1993, he did postdoctoral trainings at University of Pennsylvania (1993 – 1996) and Washington University (1997 – 2002) before becoming a faculty member at University of Connecticut. His major research interests are on the function and regulation of the BK channel and gap junctions, and molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter release.