Zhangxiang Zhou

Dr. Zhangxiang Zhou serves as Professor of Nutrition and Co-Director of the Center for Translational Biomedical Research at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His research program, funded by the National Institutes of Health, focuses on metabolic liver diseases with emphasis on alcohol-related pathologies and dietary interventions.

His research interests center on metabolic liver diseases, particularly investigating how imbalanced dietary consumption contributes to liver pathology. His laboratory examines aldehyde toxicity at the gut-liver-brain axis, lipotoxicity mechanisms in alcoholic liver disease, organ interactions in disease pathogenesis, and dietary interventions for liver disease prevention. His work has challenged conventional understanding of liver disease mortality, highlighting its position as the 8th leading cause of American deaths according to Mayo Clinic research.

The research trends in his recent publications demonstrate strong focus on autophagy dysfunction, ER stress signaling, and mitochondrial impairment in alcohol-induced liver injury. His work spans molecular mechanisms of fatty acid toxicity, gut microbiome interactions, and therapeutic interventions targeting NAD+ metabolism and antioxidant pathways.

Dr. Zhou has secured significant research funding including NIH grants R01 AA018844 and R01 AA020212 for his work on alcohol-associated liver injury mechanisms.

His laboratory team includes Research Specialist Xinguo Sun, Research Scientist Liuyi Hao, PhD, and Postdoctoral Research Fellows Haibo Dong, PhD, Wei Guo, PhD, and Pramathadhip Paul, PhD. They utilize advanced techniques including cryostat microtome analysis, spatial proteomics, and genetically modified mouse models to investigate liver disease mechanisms.