Biography

Xinzhu Yu, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine – Center for Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology. She was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign prior to joining UTHealth Houston in 2025.

Dr. Yu is interested in astrocytes, which are abundant non-neuronal cells that closely interact with neurons throughout the entire central nervous system. The long-term goal of her research is to understand how astrocytes communicate with neurons in various neural circuits to drive behaviors, as well as how alterations of astrocyte-neuron interaction contribute to the pathogenesis of neurological and psychiatric disorders. To tackle these questions, her lab uses a multidisciplinary approach with genetic/chemogenetic tools, in vivo imaging, behavioral assays, cell type-specific transcriptomics/proteomics and computational modeling.

Professional Highlights

2023 – 2028  Director’s New Innovator Award, NIH

2023 – 2024  NARSAD Young Investigator Award, P&S Fund Investigator, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation

2021 – 2024  Whitehall Research Grant Award, Whitehall Foundation

2021 – 2023  Brain Research Foundation Seed Grant Award, Brain Research Foundation

2020 – 2025  Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Neuroscience Program, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

2019               NIH BRAIN Initiative Principal Investigators Meeting Travel Award, NIH

2018 – 2019  Brain Research Institute Postdoctoral Award, UCLA

2016 – 2017  American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, AHA