Zhaohui Xu received his B.S. degree in biology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1989 and his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota in 1992. He then engaged in postdoctoral research at Yale University with the late Paul Sigler from 1993 to 1998. Dr. Xu joined the faculty of the Department of Biological Chemistry of the UM Medical School as an assistant professor in 1999, and became a member of the Life Sciences Institute in 2003.
Dr. Xu's research interests focus on the in vivo process of protein folding and protein translocation. Since all proteins need to be folded into a defined structure and transported to a particular location to be fully functional, protein folding and translocation are vitally important for the health and survival of cells. Failures in these processes have been directly linked to many human diseases.
A group of proteins call molecular chaperones are of particular interest to Dr. Xu. These proteins function to ensure that other proteins will fold correctly into their native structures. For years, the concept of molecular chaperones was foreign to many people and it was not clear how it might work. During his postdoctoral work, Dr. Xu determined the structure of one of the most interesting molecular chaperones called GroEL, in complex with its co-chaperone GroES. The structure was considered as a landmark in the field as it clearly reveals the molecular mechanism regarding the function of GroEL.
Since joining the University of Michigan faculty, Dr. Xu has continued his studies on the structure and function relationship of molecular chaperones. He has also engaged in structural studies on molecules involved in the unfolded protein response, exocytosis and endocytosis. While his lab has a strong emphasis on structural biology, they also combine biochemistry, biophysics and genetics to pursue their mechanistic and functional studies.
In 2001, the Pew Charitable Trust named Dr. Xu as one of twenty Pew Biomedical Scholars in the nation. Dr. Xu is also a University of Michigan Biological Sciences Scholar. In 2003, he received the Basic Science Research Award from the University of Michigan Medical School.
