Positions
- Professor
-
Biochemistry
Baylor College of Medicine
- Member
-
Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States
- Associate Professor
-
Biochemistry
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States
- Assistant Professor
-
Biochemistry
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas USA
Addresses
- BCM-MD Anderson Hall (Office)
-
Room: BCMA-322B
Houston, TX 77030-3498
United States
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
- 10/2001 - Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
- Postdoctoral Training at Baylor College Of Medicine
- 07/1995 - Houston, Texas United States
- PhD from Baylor College Of Medicine
- 06/1994 - Houston, Texas United States
- BS from Fudan University
- 01/1988 - Shanghai, China
Honors & Awards
- Fellowship
- China U.S. Biochemical Examination Association
- Predoctoral Fellowship
- Robert A. Welch Foundation
- The V. C. Joshi Memorial Award
- Baylor College of Medicine
- 2nd Place Award for Poster Presentation
- Baylor College of Medicine
- Arnold O. Beckman Academic Achievement Award
- Baylor College of Medicine
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Medical Foundation
- 1st Place Poster Presentation
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Cancer Research Annual Retreat
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Merck/MIT Collaboration Program
- Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award
- The March of Dimes Birth Defect Foundation
- Scholar's Program Award
- Rita Allen Foundation
- Best Lecturer
- The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
- Best Lecturer
- The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
- Best Overall Course (Genetics A)
- The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine
- Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award
- Baylor College of Medicine (05/2018)
- Best course in Chemical, Physical, and Structural Builogy
- Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (01/2021 - 05/2021)
Professional Interests
- Molecular genetic studies of clearance of apoptotic cells
Professional Statement
Clearance of Apoptotic and Necrotic Cells in the Nematode C. elegansDuring an animal's development and adulthood many unwanted cells are eliminated by a process called "programmed cell death" or "apoptosis". Such cells undergo specific changes in appearance, die, and are quickly engulfed and digested by phagocytes, or engulfing cells. In addition, cells die due to injury, disease, or other pathological states, the “necrotic cells”, are also cleared efficiently within animal bodies. The clearance of dying cells is important because dying cells may contain material that, if released, could harm neighboring cells. Inefficient removal of dying cells or incorrect removal of cells that should normally live both result in human diseases. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms that control each step in the process of dying cell clearance has important meanings to biological and medical researches. However, despite the recent burst in the study of cell death mechanisms, the mechanisms behind the removal of dying cells remain largely unknown. My laboratory is interested in the molecular mechanisms that control the recognition, engulfment, and degradation of apoptotic cells. We use the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism to identify genes and delineate the pathways controlling these events, with the belief that what we learn from C. elegans will be translated to humans.
Previously, I identified CED-1, a transmembrane C. elegans protein as a phagocytic receptor that is specifically expressed in engulfing cells, recognizes apoptotic cells, and initiates their engulfment. In my own laboratory, we have isolated a large number of C. elegans mutants defective in the removal of apoptotic cells. A combination of both forward and reverse genetic approaches have led us to identify proteins acting upstream or downstream of CED-1 in the signaling pathway, which provide conceptual advances in understanding how apoptotic cells are recognized, internalized, and degraded. Particularly, our research has focused on the following three critical steps that lead to the clearance of dying cells.
Websites
This is an external website that is updated frequently.
Professional Development
- Mentor Training for Biomedical Researchers
- Workshop (Participant, 2018)
- Sponsor: NIH National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN)
Selected Publications
- Furuta Y, Zhou Z. "How do necrotic cells expose phosphatidylserine to attract their predators-What's unique and what's in common with apoptotic cells." Front Cell Dev Biol.. 2023;11:1170551. Pubmed PMID: 37091984
- Peña-Ramos O, Zhou Z. "Measuring the acidification of the phagosomal lumen in live C. elegans embryos." STAR Protoc.. 2023 Jun 3;4(2):102332. Pubmed PMID: 37270784
- Peña-Ramos O, Chiao L, Liu X, Yu X, Yao T, He H, Zhou Z. "Autophagosomes fuse to phagosomes and facilitate the degradation of apoptotic cells in Caenorhabditis elegans.." eLife. 2022 Jan 4;11:72466. Pubmed PMID: 34982028
- Furuta Y, Pena-Ramos O, Li Z, Chiao L, Zhou Z. "Calcium ions trigger the exposure of phosphatidylserine on the surface of necrotic cells.." PLoS Genet.. 2021 Feb;17(2):e1009066. Pubmed PMID: 33571185
- Haley R, Wang Y, Zhou Z. "The small GTPase RAB-35 defines a third pathway that is required for the recognition and degradation of apoptotic cells." PLoS Genet.. 2018 Aug;14(8):e1007558. Pubmed PMID: 30138370
- Li Z, Venegas V, Nagaoka Y, Morino E, Raghavan P, Audhya A, Nakanishi Y, Zhou Z. "Necrotic Cells Actively Attract Phagocytes through the Collaborative Action of Two Distinct PS-Exposure Mechanisms." PLoS Genet.. 2015 Jun;11(6):e1005285. Pubmed PMID: 1005285
- Shen Q, He B, Lu N, Conradt B, Grant BD, Zhou Z "Phagocytic receptor signaling regulates clathrin and epsin-mediated cytoskeletal remodeling during apoptotic cell engulfment in C. elegans.." Development. 2013 Aug;140(15):3230-3243. Pubmed PMID: 23861060
- Li Z, Lu N, He X, Zhou Z "Monitoring the clearance of apoptotic and necrotic cells in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.." Meth. Mol. Biol. 2013;1004:183-202. Pubmed PMID: 23733578
- Lu N, Shen Q, Mahoney TR, Neukomm LJ, Wang Y, Zhou Z "Two PI 3-kinases and one PI 3-phosphatase together establish the cyclic waves of phagosomal PtdIns(3)P critical for the degradation of apoptotic cells." PLoS Genet. 2012 Jan;10(1):e1001245. Pubmed PMID: 22272187
- Lu N, Zhou Z. "Membrane trafficking and phagosome maturation during the clearance of apoptotic cells.." Int Rev Cell Mol Biol.. 2012;193:269-309. Pubmed PMID: 22251564
- Lu N, Shen Q, Mahoney TR, Liu X, Zhou Z. "Three sorting nexins drive the degradation of apoptotic cells in response to PtdIns(3)P signaling." Mol Biol Cell. 2011 Feb 1;22(3):354-374. Pubmed PMID: 21148288
- He B, Yu X, Margolis M, Liu X, Leng X, Etzion Y, Zheng F, Lu N, Quiocho FA, Danino D, Zhou Z "Live-cell imaging in Caenorhabditis elegans reveals the distinct roles of dynamin self-assembly and guanosine triphosphate hydrolysis in the removal of apoptotic cells." Mol. Biol. Cell. 2010 Feb 15;21(4):610-29. Pubmed PMID: 20016007
- Wu H.H., Bellmunt E., Scheib J.L., Venegas V., Burkert C., Reichardt L.F., Zhou Z., Fariñas I., Carter B.D. "Glial precursors clear sensory neuron corpses during development via Jedi-1, an engulfment receptor." Nat Neurosci. 2009 Dec;12(12):1534-41. Pubmed PMID: 19915564
- Yu X, Lu N, Zhou Z. "Phagocytic receptor CED-1 initiates a signaling pathway for degrading engulfed apoptotic cells.." PLoS Biol.. 2008 Mar 18;6(3):e61. Pubmed PMID: 18351800
- Zhou Z, Yu X. "Phagosome maturation during the removal of apoptotic cells: receptors lead the way.." Trends Cell Biol.. 2008 Oct;18(10):474-85. Pubmed PMID: 18774293
- Yu X, Odera S, Chuang CH, Lu N, Zhou Z. "C. elegans Dynamin mediates the signaling of phagocytic receptor CED-1 for the engulfment and degradation of apoptotic cells.." Dev Cell. 2006 Jun;10(6):743-57. Pubmed PMID: 16740477
Memberships
- Genetic Society of America
- Member
- American Society of Cell Biology
- Member
- American Cancer Society Institutional
- Member
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