Dr. Xu is a principal investigator at the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (IBCB), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai. He trained for PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin and conducted his postdoctoral training at Columbia University, New York. Dr. Xu established the DNA metabolism research group in 2001 under the auspices of Max Planck research group at Shanghai IBCB, where his team investigates the function of DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine) in stem cells and development. In 2011 his team described a role for Tet DNA dioxygenases in oxidation of 5-methylcytosine to 5-carboxylcytosine and the involvement of a DNA glycosylase 鈥揟DG in active demethylation, a critical step for the epigenetic reprogramming of early embryos and throughout development.