Prof. ZHOU Lei

Academic Staff

Professor

HJ503
+852 2766 6100
lei.henry.zhou@polyu.edu.hk

ORCID ID

SCOPUS ID

Biography

Prof. Zhou Lei obtained his PhD degree from the National University of Singapore. He joined the Singapore Eye Research Institute in 1998 as a Research Fellow and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in 2004, Principal Research Scientist in 2009, and Senior Principal Research Scientist in 2012. He headed the Ocular Proteomics Laboratory at the Singapore Eye Research Institute. Prof. Zhou moved to Hong Kong in 2022 and holds a joint appointment in the School of Optometry and the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a Professor.

In 2020, Prof. Zhou received the “Outstanding Achievement Award in Ophthalmology and Visual Science for Overseas Chinese” from the Chinese Ophthalmology Society (COS).

Prof. Zhou was a board member of the Singapore Society for Mass Spectrometry (SSMS) from 2012 to 2022. He was also a member of the organizing committees of the 7th Asia Oceania Mass Spectrometry Conference (December 2017, Singapore) and the Joint 11th AOHUPO/ 7th AOAPO Congress (2023, Singapore). He is an Editorial Board member for several journals, including Scientific Reports, Chinese Journal of Experimental Ophthalmology, and Advances in Ophthalmology Practice and Research, and has been a regular reviewer for more than 40 scientific journals over the years. Prof. Zhou has also served as an external examiner for grant proposals, as well as PhD theses from Germany, France, Norway, Italy, India, and Singapore.

Research Overview

Prof. Zhou applies cutting-edge mass spectrometry and proteomics/metabolomics technologies to biomedical research. He pioneered the comprehensive analysis of the human tear fluid proteome and metabolome, which enabled major advances in disease diagnosis using tear proteins. His lab has been systematically investigating tear proteomic profiles and disease biomarkers for more than twenty eye and systemic diseases. His team has banked more than 4,500 tear proteins and a few hundred small molecule metabolites in their human tear fluid database. He is pioneering a trans-omics/multi-omics approach to identify disease biomarkers, which could be used for diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring disease progression, response to treatment, and disease risk prediction. Such an approach has also been used for studying disease mechanisms and identifying protective factors for age-related eye diseases. Prof. Zhou is particularly interested in diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, myopia, and ocular surface diseases. His research also involves developing new methods for proteomics (e.g. post-translational modifications on cysteine residues, such as glutathionylation) and metabolomics (e.g. data-independent acquisition in metabolomics).

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics/metabolomics allows us to identify disease biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets in a more efficient way. We are aiming to correlate molecular trans-omics profiles with clinical phenotypes in order to understand the molecular mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and progression. Our ultimate goal is to make contributions to personalized medicine.

Press/Media:
1. https://www.clinicallab.com/a-vision-of-precision-medicine-22846
2. https://www.thejournalofprecisionmedicine.com/the-journal-of-precision-medicine/using-tears-for-precision-diagnostics-and-the-development-of-a-potential-new-therapy-for-age-related-macular-degeneration/
3. https://www.technologynetworks.com/proteomics/blog/seeing-clearly-again-using-the-tear-lipidome-to-detect-dry-eye-after-laser-surgery-361488
4. “S’pore institute focuses on super antibiotic for eyes”. The Straits Times, March 26, 2009, Page B9.

Education and Academic Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, National University of Singapore

Research Interests

Research Output

Nusinovici S, Li HT, Thakur S, Baskaran M, Tham YC, Zhou L, Sabanayagam C, Aung T, Silver D, Fan Q, Wong TY, Crowston J, Cheng CY. High-density lipoprotein 3 cholesterol and primary open-angle glaucoma: metabolomics and mendelian randomization analyses. Ophthalmology, 2022 Mar;129(3):285-294.
Nusinovici S, Zhang L, Chai X, Zhou L, Tham YC, Vasseneix C, Majithia S, Sabanayagam C, Wong TY, Cheng CY. Machine learning to determine relative contribution of modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors of major eye diseases. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2022 Feb;106(2):267-274.
Lang TY^#, Xu J^#, Zhou L, Zhang ZQ, Ma XL, Gu JY, Liu JS, Li YZ, and Ding DY, Qiu JF. Disruption of KDM4C-ALDH1A3 feed-forward loop inhibits stemness, tumorigenesis and chemoresistance of gastric cancer stem cells. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 2021 Sep 22;6(1):336.
Liu YC, Yam GHF, Lina MTY, Teo E, Koh SK, Deng L, Zhou L, Tong L, Mehta JS. Comparison of tear proteomic and neuromediator profiles changes between small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK). Journal of Advanced Research, 2020, Nov 5;29:67-81.
Chan JCY, Soh ACK, Dorinda Y, Kioh YQ, Li J, Verma C, Koh SK, Beuerman RW, Zhou L*, Chan ECY*. Reactive metabolite-induced protein glutathionylation mechanistically accounts for acetaminophen hepatotoxicity. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2018, 17(10), 2034-2050. *Corresponding author.
Chen L, Gao Y, Wang LZ, Ning Cheung N, Tan GSW, Cheung CMG, Beuerman RW, Wong TY, Chan ECY, Zhou L*. Recent advances in the applications of metabolomics in eye research. Analytica Chimica Acta. 2018, Dec 11;1037:28-40. *Corresponding author.
Chen G, Walmsley S, Cheung GCM, Chen L, Cheng CY, Beuerman RW, Wong TY, Zhou L*, Choi HW*. Customized consensus spectral library building for untargeted quantitative metabolomics analysis with data independent acquisition mass spectrometry and MetaboDIA workflow. Analytical Chemistry, 2017, 89(9):4897-4906. * Corresponding author.
Tong L, Zhou L, Beuerman RW, Simonyi S, Hollander DA, Stern ME. Effects of punctal occlusion on global tear proteins in patients with dry eye. Ocular Surface, 2017, S1542-0124(16)30285-3.
Zhou L*, Beuerman RW. The power of tears: how tear proteomics research could revolutionize the clinic (Editorial).Expert Review of Proteomics, 2017, 14(3):189-191. *Corresponding author.
Chen L, Cheng CY, Choi HW, Ikram MK, Sabanayagam C, Tan GS, Tian DC, Zhang L, Venkatesan G, Tai ES, Wang JJ, Mitchell P, Cheung CM, Beuerman RW, Zhou L*, Chan ECY*, Wong TY*. Plasma metabonomic profiling of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes, 2016, Apr;65(4):1099-108. *Corresponding author.
Fan Q, Verhoeven V, Wojciechowski R, Barathi VA, …Zhou L, …. Cheng CY, Hammond C, Klaver C, and Saw SM. Meta-analysis of gene-environment-wide association scans accounting for education level identifies additional loci for refractive error. Nature Communications, 2016, Mar 29;7:11008.
Chen L, Li J, Guo T, Ghosh S, Koh SK, Tian D, Zhang L, Jia D, Beuerman RW, Aebersold R, Chan EC, Zhou L*. Global metabonomic and proteomic analysis of human conjunctival epithelial cells (IOBA-NHC) in response to hyperosmotic stress. Journal of Proteome Research, 2015, 14, 3982-3995. * Corresponding author.
Barathi VA, Chaurasia SS, Poidinger M, Koh SK, Tian D, Ho C, Iuvone MP, Beuerman RW, Zhou L*. Involvement of GABA transporters in atropine-treated myopic retina as revealed by iTRAQ quantitative proteomics. Journal of Proteome Research, 2014, Nov. 7; 13(11): 4647-4658. *Corresponding author.
D'Souza S, Petznick A, Tong L, Hall RC, Rosman M, Chan C, Koh SK, Beuerman RW, Zhou L*, Mehta JS. Comparative analysis of two femtosecond LASIK platforms using iTRAQ quantitative proteomics. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 2014 May 6;55(6):3396-402. *Corresponding author.
Zhou L, Beuerman RW. Tear analysis in ocular surface diseases. Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, 2012, 31(6), 527-550.

Zhou L, Beuerman RW. Chapter 20: Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of N-Linked Glycoproteins in Human Tear Fluid, in Methods in Molecular Biology, 2013, Springer Science. 951:297-306.