Xiangwei Xiao, MD, PhD

Xiao did his M.D. and residency in Tianjin Medical University, China, from 1990 to 2000 and then became an attending physician. He studied telomerase activity for medical school thesis. In 2001, he went to Free University of Brussels, Belgium for a M.S. and then a Ph.D. in diabetes research in the Diabetes Research Center directed by Dr. Piperleers. After he finished his Ph.D. study, he joined Dr. Gittes’ lab in University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA, in 2011. In 2016, he became independent and ran his lab in the division of Pediatric Surgery directed by Dr. Gittes. Now his lab focuses on the study of signaling pathways that govern the interplay among different cell types in islets, which play crucial roles in the beta-cell homeostasis and function under physiological and pathological conditions. Especially, his lab is studying the role of macrophage in beta-cell growth, T1D and other immune (e.g. asthma, SLE) as well as neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. microglia in Alzheimer’s disease).