INTERNAL WESTLAKE UNIVERSITY FELLOWS

Biography

Dr. Yuchen Xiao received her Ph.D. degree in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Harvard University in 2022. Her thesis advisor was Professor Gabriel Kreiman. Her Ph.D. research focused on using intracranial recordings to uncover the neural mechanisms underlying human cognitive functions including cognitive control and memory. Dr. Xiao received her B.S. degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from University of California, Los Angeles in 2016. She did undergraduate research in virology in the lab of Professor Ren Sun. Dr. Xiao joined Westlake University in 2023 as a Westlake Fellow and is a principal investigator in the School of Life Sciences.

Research Interests and Projects

Xiao Lab uses human intracranial recordings to uncover the neural basis of human brain functions like memory, vision, and cognitive control, combining behavioral, neurophysiological, and computational neuroscience methods. Neurophysiological or electrical signals recorded by invasive electrodes inside the human brain exhibit high spatiotemporal resolution and are the key for unlocking how our brain functions. Understanding the neural basis of brain functions is crucial for developing brain-computer interface applications and guiding biologically-inspired AI. Our lab also aims to address neurological disorders, such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease, from both mechanistic and applicational perspectives.

Representative Publications

[1] Yuchen Xiao, Chien-Chen Chou, Garth Rees Cosgrove, Nathan E. Crone, Scellig Stone, Joseph R. Madsen, Ian Reucroft, Yen-Cheng Shih, Daniel Weisholtz, Hsiang-Yu Yu, William S. Anderson, and Gabriel Kreiman. “Cross-task specificity and within-task invariance of cognitive control processes.” Cell Reports, 42(1): 111919.

[2] Danyang Gong, Yong Hoon Kim, Yuchen Xiao, Yushen Du, Yafang Xie, Kevin K. Lee, Jun Feng, Nisar Farhat, Dawei Zhao, Sara Shu, Xinghong Dai, Sumit K. Chanda, Tariq M. Rana, Nevan J. Krogan, Ren Sun, and Ting-Ting Wu. “A Herpesvirus Protein Selectively Inhibits Cellular mRNA Nuclear Export.” Cell host & microbe, 20(5), 642–653.

[3] Xinghong Dai, Danyang Gong, Yuchen Xiao, Ting-Ting Wu, Ren Sun, and Z. Hong Zhou. “CryoEM and mutagenesis reveal that the smallest capsid protein cements and stabilizes Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus capsid.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(7), E649–E656.