Dr. Lei Zhou obtained his Ph.D. in Physiology in 2000 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine. From 2000 to 2008, he received his postdoctoral training at Columbia University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in New York City, and then worked as an Associate Research Scientist at the same institution. In 2008, he joined Virginia Commonwealth University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2015. In 2020, Dr. Zhou relocated to Shenzhen, Guangdong Province and took the position of Senior Principal Investigator in the Institute of Molecular Physiology at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory.

• Advancing ion channel research with automated patch clamp (APC) electrophysiology platforms.- Methods & Challenges to Study Mechanosensitive Ion Channels.- The Polysite Pharmacology of TREK K2P channels.- Physiological functions, biophysical properties and regulation of KCNQ1 (KV7.1) potassium channels.- Context matters – Calcium channel splice variants and their effects in brain and cardiovascular function.- Structure-function of TMEM16 ion channels and lipid scramblases.- Distribution and Assembly of TRP Ion Channels.- Regulation of Ion Channel Function by Gas Molecules.- DEG/ENaC ion channels in the function of the nervous system: from worm to man.- Glial chloride channels in the function of the nervous system across species.- Physiological and pathological relevance of selective and non-selective Ca2+ channels in skeletal and cardiac muscle.- Lysosomal TRPML1 Channel: Implications in Cardiovascular and Kidney Diseases.- Store-Operated Calcium Entry in the Cardiovascular System.- The role of thermosensitive ion channels in mammalian thermoregulation.- Mechanotransduction ion channels in hearing and touch.- The functional properties, physiological roles, channelopathy and pharmacological characteristics of the Slack (KCNT1) channel.- Ion Channels in Anesthesiology.