X.Z. Shawn Xu
Dr. Xu joined the University of Michigan in 2005 with a faculty appointment in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology and in the Life Sciences Institute. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2010. In 2012, Dr. Xu was appointed as Bernard W. Agranoff Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences. 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 and physiology: 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. He also investigates how sensory cues and genes modulate aging and longevity. 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, including the Pew Scholar award, Sloan fellow, Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award.
