gene transcription to treat a wide array of human diseases including cancer and inflammation. This concept has had transformative impact in epigenetic drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. The Zhou Lab further discovered the tandem PHD finger of DPF3b as a first alternative to the bromodomain for acetyl-lysine binding (Nature 2010), and the PAZ domain as the RNA binding domain in RNAi (Nature 2003). His work also addresses the role of histone lysine methylation (Nature Cell Biol. 2008) as well as long non-coding RNA in epigenetic control of gene transcription in human stem cell maintenance and differentiation (Mol. Cell 2010). Zhou's work in rational design of chemical probes for mechanism-driven research led to the discovery of the HIV Tat/human co-activator PCAF interaction as a potential novel anti-HIV therapy target. His group has developed chemical probes that modulate the transcriptional activity of human tumor suppressor p53 under stress conditions. His recent work includes the development of a novel gene transcriptional silencing technology. Additional research discoveries include structural mechanisms as well as drug target discovery and validation for human cancers, particularly triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and inflammatory disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and multiple sclerosis. Current and past society memberships include The Harvey Society, the Biophysical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Sciences. He serves on multiple editorial boards and reviews grants for the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Awards and honors 2019 The Jacobi Medallion, The Mount Sinai Health System 2012 Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2009 Elected Member, The Academy of Sciences & Arts at Michigan Technological University 2006 Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Professorship in Physiology and Biophysics 2003 GlaxoSmithKlineDrug Discovery and Development Award 1999 American Cancer Society Young Investigator Award Patents References External links The Mount Sinai Hospital homepage The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai homepage Drug Discovery Institute at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Cancer researchers Living people Michigan Technological University alumni Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai faculty Purdue University alumni Stem cell researchers Year of birth missing (living people)