- Ph.D, Brown University (2002)
Education & Training
Xu lab studies how experience induces long-lasting changes in synaptic transmission (synaptic plasticity) that ultimately patterns the excitatory synaptic connectivity, important for information encoding in the central nervous system. We use a combination of molecular, electrophysiological and behavioral analyses in the rodent model system to study critical players in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory. Our overarching goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms of neural plasticity essential for information processing and storage in the brain, and their dysfunction in disease such as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and mental retardation.
Jones KJ, Templet S, Zemoura K, Kuzniewska B, Pena FX, Hwang H, Lei DJ, Haensgen H, Nguyen S, Saenz C, Leis M, Dziembowska M, and Xu W. Rapid, Experience-dependent translation of neurogranin enables memory encoding (2018). PNAS 115 E5805-5814 PMID: 29880715
Xu W*, Löwel S*, Schlüter OM*. Silent Synapse-Based Mechanisms of Critical Period Plasticity (2020). Front Cell Neurosci. 14:213. PMID: 32765222 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2020.00213
Han KS, Cooke SF, and Xu W. Experience-dependent equilibration of AMPAR-mediated synaptic transmission during the critical period (2017). Cell Reports 18: 892-904 PMID: 28122240 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.12.084
Hwang H, Szucs MJ*, Ding LJ*, Allen, A, Ren X, Haensgen H, Gao F, Andrade A, Pan JQ, Carr SA, Amhad R, and Xu W. Neurogranin, encoded by the schizophrenia risk gene NRGN, bidirectionally modulates synaptic plasticity via calmodulin-dependent regulation of the neuronal phosphoroteome (2021). Biol. Psych. 89:256-169 PMID: 33032807 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.07.014
