Dr. Zhou has completed his MD from Zhejiang University and PhD from Peking Union Medical College. He has done his postdoc training with Dr. William Pu at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard University. In 2010, he has established his own research group at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. His research focuses on developing new genetic technologies to better understand cell origin and cell fate plasticity in organ development, tissue homeostasis, diseases and regeneration. Recently, Zhou’s lab develops dual recombinases-mediated genetic approach to elucidate in vivo cell fate with enhanced precision. He uses genetic lineage tracing technology to understand the in vivo cell fate and function of immune cells in organ repair and regeneration. As a young investigator, he is a Fellow of the International Society of Heart Research. He has also been recognized with many prestigious awards including Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship, XPLORER PRIZE, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, etc.

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Topic:  Diverse origins of macrophages in lung injury and repair

Summary:  Macrophages play important roles in tissue repair and regeneration. Unraveling their distinct origins and contributions are critical to our understanding of the pathophysiological process in diseases and regeneration. Using genetic lineage tracing and scRNA-seq approaches, we characterize 3 distinct sources of macrophages in the lungs after injury. Through dual recombinases-mediated genetic lineage tracing, we specifically trace cavity macrophages and find that they accumulate on the lung surface but do not invade deeply into the lungs for tissue repair. Monocyte-derived macrophages contribute substantially to macrophages, as about half of the tissue resident macrophages are replaced during lung injury and repair. scRNA-seq analysis further reveals that monocytes first contribute to interstitial macrophages, which further differentiate into alveolar macrophages through a transient state. Our study has illustrated the dynamic contribution of different macrophage subsets in lung repair and regeneration.

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