Xiaotang Lu

Xiaotang Lu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with affiliations at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. She holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and completed postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Harvard University under Jeff Lichtman. Her research focuses on developing biochemical tools and advanced imaging techniques to study brain connectivity, particularly in connectomics and correlated light-electron microscopy.

Research interests include biochemical tools for brain imaging, spatial omics, and systems neuroscience. She leads the Lu Lab, which works at the chemistry-neuroscience interface to address challenges in understanding brain circuitry and neuropsychiatric diseases. Notable achievements include the development of NATIVE (Nanobody-assisted tissue immunostaining for volumetric EM) and contributions to NIH BRAIN Initiative projects.

• Education:
  • PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
  • M.S. in Chemistry, Tsinghua University
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University

Awards include the NIH BRAIN Initiative K99/R00 Award (2022–2024), Cornell FIRST Scholar (2022), and Leading Edge Fellow (2022). She teaches Chem 588: Physical Methods for Materials Chemistry and actively recruits graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduates for interdisciplinary research projects.

Key publications focus on multiplexed molecular imaging, connectomics methodologies, and advanced microscopy techniques to map brain circuitry. Her work bridges chemical innovation with neurobiological applications, aiming to clarify how brain structure enables function and disease.