Zhaolan (Joe) Zhou is a professor of genetics and neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and director of the Preclinical Models Core at the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. After receiving a B.S. degree from Nankai University and Ph.D. from Harvard University, he carried out postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.

Since joining the University of Pennsylvania, Zhou’s research program has focused on understanding the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders with known genetic causes, such as Rett syndrome and CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD), autism spectrum disorder with complex genetics, and major depressive disorder with environmental insults. In the past few years, he has led a research team that developed the first allelic series of mouse models recapitulating human genetic mutations found in Rett syndrome and CDD and engineered genetically modified mice to interrogate stress-related neuroepigenetics in the brain. Through a combined genetic, genomic, physiological and behavioral approaches, the Zhou lab has uncovered novel insights into the pathogenic mechanisms of Rett syndrome and CDD, identified robust and quantitative biomarkers and has been aiming to develop innovative strategies to treat those neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.