Dr. Zhou received his bachelor and master degrees from China and PhD degree in physiology from University of Florida and completed his post-doctoral fellowship in The Johns Hopkins University. He is a principal investigator at USU. Dr. Zhou’s laboratory has centered on how to alleviate tourniquet- and sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (AKI), using cell culture and mice as models. Currently, there is no specific treatment for AKI. As a result, AKI significantly increases morbidity and mortality of patients and financial burden to the society. Tourniquet is the first aid to control limb hemorrhage in military operations and civilian settings. However, prolonged application of tourniquets can induce “sterile” systemic inflammation, leading to multi-organ injury, including AKI, and multi-organ failure. Trauma can lead to sepsis, non-sterile systemic inflammation, resulting in acute kidney and other organ injuries. A majority of forms of AKI shares microcirculation dysregulation and hypoxia in the kidney, although the direct evidence for tourniquet-induced AKI is lacking. Dr. Zhou's laboratory is studying whether reducing oxygen demand such as inhibition of sodium absorption in the kidney can ameliorate tourniquet- and sepsis-induced AKI.