C. Shan Xu

C. Shan Xu is the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale School of Medicine. His expertise bridges biophysics, engineering, and biomedical imaging. After earning a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from UC Berkeley (1997), he contributed to semiconductor technology at Lam Research before pioneering advanced microscopy at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus. At Yale, he leads the Xu Lab, focusing on enhancing volume electron microscopy (vEM) to achieve ultra-high-resolution 3D imaging of biological tissues.

Key achievements include the development of enhanced FIB-SEM technology, enabling the largest Drosophila brain connectome (2020) and the first open-access 3D cellular atlas (2021). His lab’s innovations have advanced understanding of subcellular architectures in neuroscience, cell biology, and metabolic diseases. Notable collaborations span structural biology, immunology, and liver physiology. Awards include election to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (2023).

• Education: B.S., University of Science and Technology of China (1992); Ph.D., UC Berkeley (1997)
• Research Interests: Ultrastructural imaging, ER-mitochondria interactions, mechanosensory systems, connectomics

Publications highlight breakthroughs in FIB-SEM applications, organelle segmentation, and metabolic homeostasis linked to subcellular organization. The lab’s work is featured in Nature, Science, and Cell.