Tenure-trackAssociateProfessorPhone:(86-21)54742961Office:526Email:Heng_Xu@sjtu.e.cnBriefIntroctionDr.HengXuobtainedhisBachelor’sDegreeinPhysicsfromtheDepartmentforIntensiveInstructionatNanjingUniversityin2003.HethenmovedtotheDepartmentofPhysicsatBrownUniversitywhereheobtainedhisPh.D.inPhysicsin2010.Aftergraation,hetookapostdoctoralpositionintheDepartmentofBiochemistry&MolecularBiologyatBaylorCollegeofMedicine,wherehereceivedaBurroughsWellcomeFundCareerAwardattheScientificInterfacein2014.In2017,Dr.XuwasselectedtotheThousandTalentsProgramforYoungProfessionalsandjoinedthefacultyoftheInstituteofNaturalSciencesandtheSchoolofPhysicsandAstronomyatShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity.Dr.Xu’sprimaryresearchgoalistounderstandthephysicalprinciplesunderlyinglivingsystemsusingquantitativeexperimentalandtheoreticalapproaches.DuringhisPh.D.,hedevelopednovelopticalstimulationandrecordingtechniquestostudythedynamicsofneuronalcircuitsinvisualsystemdevelopmentofXenopuslaevistadpoles.HiscurrentresearchisaimedatdecipheringthemechanismoftranscriptionalregulationofkeysegmentationgenesinDrosophilamelanogasterembryos,usinghigh-resolutionfluorescenceimaging,quantitativeimageanalysis,andstochasticmodeling..ResearchInterestsSingle-cell/single-moleculebiophysicsQuantitativebiologyGeneregulatorynetworkQuantitativeimagingofproteinsandRNAsStochasticdynamicsofgeneregulationVisualsystemdevelopmentNeuralplasticityOptogeneticsSelectedPublicationsHengXu,SamuelO.Skinner,AnnaM.Sokac,IdoGolding,“StochasticKineticsofNascentRNA”,PhysicalReviewLetters,117,128101(2016).LeonardoA.Sepúlveda,HengXu,JingZhang,MengyuWang,IdoGolding,“MeasurementofGeneRegulationinIndivialCellsRevealsRapidSwitchingBetweenPromoterStates”,Science,351(6278),1218(2016).SamuelO.Skinner,HengXu,SonalN.Jaiswal,PabloR.Freire,ThomasP.Zwaka,IdoGolding,“Single-cellanalysisoftranscriptionkineticsacrossthecellcycle”,Elife,5,e12175(2016).HengXu,LeonardoA.Sepúlveda,LaurenFigard,AnnaM.Sokac,IdoGolding,“CombiningproteinandmRNAquantificationtodeciphertranscriptionalregulation”,NatureMethods,12(8),739(2015).ArsenyS.Khakhalin,DavidKoren,JennyGu,HengXu,CarlosD.Aizenman,“ExcitationandinhibitioninrecurrentnetworksmediatecollisionavoidanceinXenopustadpoles”,EuropeanJournalofNeuroscience,40(6),2948(2014).LaurenFigard,HengXu,HernanGarcia,IdoGolding,AnnaM.Sokac,“TheplasmamembraneflattensouttofuelcellsurfacegrowthringDrosophilacellularization”,DevelopmentalCell27(6),648(2013).SamuelO.Skinner,LeonardoA.Sepúlveda,HengXu,IdoGolding,“MeasuringmRNAcopynumberinindivialEscherichiacolicellsusingsingle-moleculefluorescentinsituhybridization”,NatureProtocols.8(6),1100(2013).HengXu,ArsenyS.Khakhalin,ArtoV.Nurmikko,CarlosD.Aizenman,“Visualexperience-dependentmaturationofcorrelatedneuronalactivitypatternsinadevelopingvisualsystem”,JournalofNeuroscience.31(22),8025(2011).WeiDong,RyanH.Lee,HengXu,ShelleyYang,KaraG.Pratt,VaniaCao,Yoon-KyuSong,ArtoV.Nurmikko,CarlosD.Aizenman,“VisualavoidanceinXenopustadpolesiscorrelatedwiththematurationofvisualresponsesintheoptictectum”,JournalofNeurophysiology.101(2),803(2009).HengXu,JiayiZhang,KristinaM.Davitt,Yoon-KyuSong,ArtoV.Nurmikko,“Applicationofblue-greenandultravioletmicro-LEDstobiologicalimaginganddetection”,JournalofPhysicsD41(9),094013(2008).HengXu,KristinaM.Davitt,WeiDong,Yoon-KyuSong,WilliamR.PattersonIII,CarlosD.Aizenman,ArtoV.Nurmikko,“Combiningmulticoreimagingfiberwithmatrixaddressableblue/greenLEDarraysforspatiotemporalphotonicexcitationatcellularlevel”,IEEEJournalofSelectedTopicsinQuantumElectronics14(1),167(2008).HengXu,KristinaM.Davitt,WeiDong,Yoon-KyuSong,WilliamR.PattersonIII,ArtoV.Nurmikko,CarlosD.Aizenman,“Integrationofamatrixaddressableblue/greenLEDarraywithmulticoreimagingfiberforspatiotemporalexcitationinendoscopicbiomedicalapplications”.Phys.Stat.Sol.c5(6)2299(2008).SowmyaVenkataramani,KristinaM.Davitt,HengXu,JiayiZhang,Yoon-KyuSong,BarryW.Connors,ArtoV.Nurmikko,“Semiconctorultra-violetlight-emittingdiodesforflashphotolysis”,JournalofNeuroscienceMethods160(1),5(2007).JiayiZhang,SowmyaVenkataramani,HengXu,Yoon-KyuSong,Hyun-KonSong,G.Tayhas.R.Palmore,JustinFallon,ArtoV.Nurmikko,“Combinedtopographicalandchemicalmicropatternsfortemplatingneuronalnetworks”,Biomaterials27(33),5734(2006).SowmyaVenkataramani,KristinaM.Davitt,JiayiZhang,HengXu,Yoon-KyuSong,BarryW.Connors,ArtoV.Nurmikko,“Compactsemiconctorlight-emittingdiodesfordynamicimagingofneuronalcircuitry”,IEEEJournalofSelectedTopicsinQuantumElectronics11(4),785(2005).