Shaobo Zhou

Dr Shaobo Zhou BMed, MMed, PhD, RD, FHEA FIFST

Associate Professor in Nutrition and Health Science

Key details

Dr Shaobo Zhou

Associate Professor in Nutrition and Health Science

Dr Shaobo Zhou is an Associate Professor in Nutrition and Health Science within the Faculty of Engineering and Science and Programme Leader for the BSc Human Nutrition and Health, an accredited course by the Association for Nutrition.

Dr Zhou has gained huge experience in medicine, nutrition education, research and teaching. Trained as a medical doctor for 5 years in Harbin Medical University, then he completed 3 years each on Master (on zinc nutrition) and PhD (on fatty acids on colon cancer) in Chinese National Key Department of Nutrition.

As a qualified MD and nutritionist, Dr Zhou passionately generates, assesses and delivers scientific evidence-based nutritional teaching and advice in a variety of settings to improve health and wellbeing. Dr Zhou has researched zinc nutrition at the National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; studied anti-Parkinson’s diseases at the University of Manchester; applied proteomics to study the nutrients to improve the wound healing and heart disease at the Department of Nutrition in King's College London for 5 years, where his research was awarded by Human Proteomic Organisation; ran a nutritional trial to explore the method for nutrients metabolomics biomarkers in University of Aberystwyth.

As an associate professor, Dr Zhou taught nutrition in Jiamusi Medical University (China) for 4 years; as a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition at the University of Bedfordshire for 14 years, where he developed and led both BSc Food and Nutrition Science (with 91% satisfactory rate in NSS, July 2022) and MSc Food Security in Public Health. His teaching was nominated for: Commitment award, Customer service award, and Governor’s recognition award and his research expanded to use nutrients and nutraceuticals to prevent epilepsy, diabetes, sarcopenia and Alzheimer diseases.

Human nutrition and health Science

Responsibilities within the university

Programme Leader for the BSc Human Nutrition and Health, an accredited course by the Association for Nutrition.

Module participation:

  • Clinical nutrition
  • Advanced human nutrition
  • Nutrition through the lifecycle
  • Project of nutrition

Awards
  • 2016 Scientific research award (4th/9 Authors): Antiepileptic effect and mechanisms of Ganoderma Lucidum Spores in vivo and in vitro studies. Department of Health, Hei Long Jiang Province, PR China
  • 2010 Runner up for three Awards: Commitment Awards, Customer Service Award, Governors Recognition Award respectively in University of Bedfordshire, UK)
  • 2004 Young scientist award: Application of Proteomic technique in collogen synthesis turnover in 3rd annual world congress of Human Proteomics Organisation
  • 1999 Young scientific researcher award, Chinese Ministry of Health, PR China
  • 1999 Young scientific researcher award, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, China
  • 1998 Third prize award (1st author), Committee of Science and Technology Progress, Hei Longjiang Province Government, PR China
  • 1998 Presentation award for young researcher, the 4th International Congress on Cancer, Gerontology and Ecology, Beijing, PR China
  • 1997 First prize award (1st author), Educational Committee of Hei Long Jiang Province, PR China
  • 1994 Third prize award (4th author), Committee of Science and Technology Progress, Government of Heilongjiang Province, PR China
  • 1993 Second prize award (4th author), Science and Technology Progress by Educational Committee, Government of Hei Long Jiang Province, PR China
  • 1992 Second prize for teaching,  School of Medicine, Jia Musi University.

Recognition
  • FHEA, Fellow of Higher Education Academy (2010-date)
  • FIFST, Fellow of Institute of Food and Science Technology (2017-date)
  • Registered Dietitian, Chinese Nutrition Society (2017-date)
  • Adjunct Professor, School of Food and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University China
  • Visiting Professor of Jiamusi University, China (2009-date)
  • Council Board member of World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (2015-2024)
  • External PhD supervisor at Harbin Institute of Technology, P.R. China (2018-2020)
  • Public governor, Luton and Dunstable University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. UCL teaching hospital (2015-2018)
  • Board member and Vice chair of Luton Healthwatch (2013-2015)
  • Board member of Scrutiny the Health and Social Care Review Group, Luton Council, UK (2014-15)
  • Member of British Nutrition Society, UK (1939092, 2002-date)
  • Member of the British Society for Proteome Research (BSPR 301, 2003-date)
  • Standing committee member of Chinese Life Scientist Society in the UK (2011-2015)
  • Member of Epilepsy Research UK (2015-date)
  • Member of Zinc-UK
  • Member of Zinc-Net Europe
  • External academic advisor for the course accreditation by University of Suffolk in 2018
  • Editor for Special Issue: Biomedical Aspects of Nutrition and Functional Food (2021)
  • Topical Advisory Panel (TAP) in Food Chemistry in Molecules (2021-date)
  • Topical Advisory Panel Member of Molecules (2021)
  • Editorial board member Maternal and Paediatric Nutrition (2015-date)
  • Editorial board member of Paediatrics & Health Research (2016-date)
  • Editorial board member of Food & Nutrition Journal (2016-date)

Reviewer for 30 renowned journals including BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth; Biomed Research International; Biological Trace Element Research; Food and Function; Food Control; Food Research International; Frontiers in Paediatrics; Food Chemistry; Frontiers in Pharmacology, Journal of Cereal Science; Journal of Chromatography B; Journal of Food Biochemistry; Journal of Dairy Science. Journal of Functional Food; Journal of Nutrition; Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture; Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine; International Journal of Biological Macromolecules; Molecular Nutrition and Food Science; Marine drugs; Proteome Science; Phytotherapy research; Pharmaceuticals, Plosone; Polymers; Nutrition and Food Technology.

Research / Scholarly interests

My research focuses on nutrients (e.g. zinc, polysaccharides, and fatty acids) and nutraceuticals (e.g. extracts of milk, Ganoderma Lucidum and marine food) on health (e.g. zinc nutritional status, diabetes, Alzheimer disease, epilepsy, bone health, sarcopenia, cancer). Working to develop and validate zinc biomarkers to assess dietary zinc nutritional status and zinc bioavailability in humans. I have a wide range of interests in the application of cellular/pathology, proteomics and metabolomic techniques to nutrition related diseases. Have been working on biomarker discovery for wound healing and alcohol induced protein profile and on the opioids receptors in Parkinson’s disease as while as dietary biomarker using metabolomics techniques. I have contributed both REF assessment in 2014 and 2021 when I worked in University of Bedfordshire.

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Please email s.zhou@greenwich.ac.uk to discuss PhD opportunities.

Key funded projects

  1. Heilongjiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Microecology-Immune Regulation Network and Related Diseases Chinese Ministry of science and technology, 70,000 CYN, (PI,4.2022-12. 2023)
  2. Ombar chocolate development on health review, European regional developments fund program. £1000, (PI, 2019).
  3. University of Bedfordshire, Rising star research investment fund £5000, (co-PI, 2012)
  4. Co-application and working on a £1 million grant Food standard agency: Biomarker discovery for the assessment of zinc status. £982833 April 2009 (PI Prof. JH. Beattie).
  5. Chinese Nutritional Association, £27000 match fee for a PhD studentship to study zinc biomarker discovery. October 2009.
  6. University of Bedfordshire, £42000 bursary for two Ph.D. studentship. 2009.
  7. University of Bedfordshire, £5000 for research informed teaching.
  8. Chinese National Natural Scientific Foundation: Some biomarker on the assessment of the zinc nutritious status (PI, 1998-2000).
  9. Scientific Research Foundation of Chinese Ministry of Health: Effect of dietary zinc on the metallothionein mRNA expression. (PI, 1998-1999).
  10. Chinese Postdoctoral Scientific Research Foundation: Effect of dietary and physiological conditions on some biomarker of zinc. (PI, 1997-1999).
  11. Hong Da Ltd, Effects of fatty acids composition on chemoprevention in a rat model of colon tumour (to Chen B and Zhou S, 1994-1997).

Recent publications
  1. Wang X, Ma X, Xu J, Guo Y, Zhou S, Yu H and Yuan L (2022) Association of cluster determinant 36, scavenger receptor class B type 1, and major facilitator superfamily domain containing the 2a genetic polymorphism with serum lipid profile in aging population with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Front. Nutr. 9:981200. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.981200
  2. Xiao Hu, Jing Liu, Jun Li, Yuqiong Song, Shengjun Chen, Shaobo Zhou, Xianqing Yang, Preparation, Purification and Identification of Novel Antioxidant Peptides Derived from Gracilariopsis Lemaneiformis Protein Hydrolysates" submitted to Frontiers in Nutrition, URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.971419
  3. Wei Pang, Shuqing Lu, Rong Zheng, Xin Li, Shunbo Yang,Yuxia Feng, Shuqiu Wang, Jin Guo and Shaobo Zhou*, Effect of ganoderic acid A on calcium-sensing receptor expression and MAPK pathway in epileptic rats BioMed Research International, 2022 Sep 1;2022:5940372. doi: 10.1155/2022/5940372. 
  4. Zhou Guangxu, Qi Yaling, Shaobo Zhou, Wu Kejia, Zhang Ying, Shi Ruiping, Qin Liwei, Wang Shuxiang, Fu Hongyang, Zhang Xin, Wang Shuqiu. The effect of Ganoderma lucidum spores on renal apoptosis in diabetic nephropathy model rats based on PINK1/Parkin pathway. Chinese Journal of Gerontology 2022, 42: 2805-2810 doi:10.3969 / j. issn.1005-9202.2022.11. 058
  5. Li P, Gao Y, Ma X, Shaobo Zhou, Guo Y, Xu J, Wang X, Van Halm-Lutterodt N and Yuan L* Study on the association of dietary fatty acids intake and serum lipid profiles with cognition in aging subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2022, 14:846132. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.846132
  6. Ke-Jia Wu, Shu-Qiu Wang, Rui-Ping Shi, Li-Hong Qin, Bushra Ahmed, Chun-Feng Lu, Shu-Xiang Wang, Fang-Fang Wang, Guijie Wang and Shaobo Zhou* Neuroprotective effect of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides in an epileptic rat model. Current Topics in Nutraceutical Research 20 (2), 416-423, 2022 doi: https://doi.org/10.37290/ctnr2641-452X.20:1-8
  7. Yu Hu, Shu-xiang Wang, Fu-yu Wu, Ke-Jia Wu, Rui-Ping Shi, Li-Hong Qin, Chun-Feng Lu, Shu-qiu Wang, Fang-fang Wang, and Shaobo Zhou*. Effects and mechanism of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. BioMed Research International, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4314415
  8. Long, X.; Hu, X.; Zhou, S.; Xiang, H.; Chen, S.; Li, L.; Liu, S.; Yang, X. Optimized Degradation and Inhibition of α-glucosidase Activity by Gracilaria lemaneiformis Polysaccharide and its Production in vitro. Marine Drugs 2022, 20, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/md20010013
  9. Xiao Hu, Ya Zhou, Shaobo Zhou, Shengjun Chen, Yanyan Wu, Laihao Li, Xianqing Yang, Purification and identification of novel xanthine oxidase inhibitory peptides derived from round scad (Decapterus maruadsi) protein hydrolysates, Marine Drugs 2021, 19 (10), 538; https://doi.org/10.3390/md19100538
  10. Weili Xu, Kangxing Lv, Wei Mu, Shaobo Zhou, Yang Yang, Encapsulation of α-tocopherol in whey protein isolate/chitosan particles using oil-in-water emulsion with optimal stability and bioaccessibility, LWT, 2021 (148) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.111724.