Prof. Zhou’s research program applies genetic, genomic, epigenomic and bioinformatics technologies to address important biological questions, apply the knowledge to improve global food security, production efficiency, and food safety, and currently lead international efforts on annotating of livestock genomes. His main research program has focused on genetic resistance to pathogen, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of host–pathogen interaction in chickens, functional annotation of regulatory elements in farm animal species, and comparative epigenomic research. His recent work on conservation of cis-regulatory elements across mammalian species including humans provides novel insights of tissue-specific functional elements for studying human diseases using appropriate animal model. He has received more than $31 million ($20 million as a PI) in funding from USAID, USDA, NIH, and livestock industries. Zhou is the Program Director of USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry targeting both East and West African countries, under the US Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative. Zhou has published 135 full-length papers including Nature, Science, Nature Communications, Genome Research, Genome Biology, Cell Host & Microbe et al., 6 book chapters and 220 abstracts and conference proceedings. His work has received significant accolades and he was honored Hy-Line International Research Award (2010), PSA Early Achievement Award for Research (2011), Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science (2016), Zoetis Fundamental Science Award (2018), and Chancellor’s Award for International Engagement, Prize of Outstanding Achievement in Science (AAFC) (2020).