Chui Fook-Chuen Professorship in Molecular Medicine

Professor Zhou Zhongjun, a biochemist and developmental biologist, received his MD degree in Pathophysiology from Peking Union Medical College/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and a PhD degree in Medical Biochemistry in Karolinska Institute, SWEDEN. In 2002 he joined The University of Hong Kong (HKU) as a Research Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. He currently serves as Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at HKU.

Professor Zhou's research primarily focuses on development, human rare diseases and aging, especially premature aging syndrome. He developed the first animal model in the world for the study of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and showed the changes in chromatin architecture and epigenetics contribute to HGPS as well as physiological aging. By employing small molecules, he has shown that modulating histone modifications is able to improve aging-associated pathological changes and extend both health span and lifespan. His work in Sirt6 deficient animals achieved the longest lifespan extension (14 times) in accelerated aging mice by improving the intestinal health. He recently identified many seno-antigens that can be used to reduce body fat and inflammation, therefore can be developed into drugs and vaccines to prevent and treat age-associated diseases such as obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, pulmonary fibrosis, atherosclerosis, etc. He recently also identified genetic mutations leading to familial hypertension and precocial sex maturation.           

Professor Zhou has made a significant contribution to our understanding how changes in extracellular matrix and their remodeling impact development and diseases. He is well-recognized in the field of metalloproteinases and has revealed the functional importance of MT1-MMP, a cell surface metalloproteinase, in the development of a variety of organs, the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and physiological functions, including osteogenesis, hematopoiesis, vasculature, metabolism, fibrosis, tissue degeneration and regeneration. His team has established an advanced platform for the production of human islet organoids for diabetic treatment. The Tn5-Indexed Tagmentation single cell-OMICs platform established in his lab enables faster, higher through-put, and cost-effective single cell analysis.

Professor Zhou has supervised more than 30 PhD students and published over hundred papers mostly in high impact scientific journals including Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Cell Metablism, Cell Stem cell, Developmental Cell, PNAS, Journal of Cell Biology, EMBO J, eLife, Cell reports, Nucleic Acid Research, etc. He served as reviewers for over 10 international funding agencies and more than 20 scientific journals. He is review panel member for Hevolution Research Foundation. He is the invited nominator for the XPlorer Prize and Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He serves the scientific advisory board for American Federation of Aging Research and Nanyang Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of Pearl River Scholar Chair professorship, Croucher Senior Research Fellowship, and the Outstanding Research Award of HKU. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Macau University, Outstanding Oversea Young Chinese Scientist, State Thousand Talents/Torch Scholar, elected Inaugurate President of Hong Kong Society of Cell Biology Society, and Founding President of Asian Society of Aging Research.