Dr. Xu joined the University of Michigan with an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative and Molecular Physiology and Assistant Research Professor in the Life Sciences Institute. Prior to joining UM, Xu completed his post-doctoral training at the California Institute of Technology.
Xu studies some of the fundamental questions in neuroscience: how sensory inputs are perceived by the nervous system, how neural circuits process information to generate behavior, and how genes and drugs of abuse regulate these processes. To address these questions, he uses the genetic model organism C. elegans because of its simple and well characterized nervous system. He takes a multidisciplinary approach combining molecular genetics, behavioral analysis, functional imaging, and electrophysiology. .
Xu has received many accolades for young researchers, including the Pew Scholar award, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award.
