Located at the Waisman Center of University of Wisconsin-Madison, our laboratory is part of the Department of Neuroscience and Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center.   We strive to adapt, develop, and integrate state-of-art approaches to investigate the molecular mechanisms regulating brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders

Contact Phone: (608) 890-4392; LinkedIn; ‪@xyzhaolab.bsky.social‬

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News

• Sep 2025: see an article written by freshman Anoushka Karr about undergraduate research in our lab.
• Aug 2025: Congratulations to Natasha Mendez for receiving 2025 Friends of Waisman Center Graduate Student Award.
• July 2025: We have had another successful Lab Annual Data Blitz. Congratulations to the presenters (Manus, Christian, Gwen, Lily, Jenna, Ruthika, Arina, Paofue, Ethan, Drew, Charlie, Anna, and Mahika) and their mentors (Yu, Zhiyan, Natasha, Soraya, Kristy, Carissa, Jiyoun, and Audrey). We thank Magnus for organizing the event!
• July 2025: Welcome Maya Evans as new postdoctoral fellow in our lab!
• July 19 2025: A wonderful day at the Devil’s Lake for lab annual summer picnic! (see photos).
• June 2025: Congratulations to Yu Gao for receiving an NIH R21 (high risk high gain) grant award to investigate cell type-specific protein ubiquitome for a better understanding of a neurodevelopmental disorder, Angelman Syndrome.
• June 27 2025: We bid farewell to Moosa Syed who will join the PhD training program at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX). Congratulations!
• Xinyu Zhao will chair a symposium “Mitochondrial Dynamics and Energy Metabolism in Neurodevelopmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders” in 2025 Society for Neuroscience Annual meeting (Nov 15-19, San Diego, CA)
• June 2025: We bid farewell to Edward Chang who will start a new technical position at Rockefeller University in New York.
• June 2025: Welcome Lily Peters and Anna Widcus as new research interns in our lab!
• May 2025: Congratulations to Jiyoun Lee (NTP second year) for passing preliminary exam!
• May 2025: Congratulations to our graduating seniors: Lily Peters, Anna Widcus, and Riley Smith!
• May 2025: Xinyu Zhao is awarded Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor.

New Publications:

• Yu Gao^* , Qiping Dong^* , Kalpana Hanthanan Arachchilage^*,(*, equal contributions), Ryan D Risgaard , Moosa Syed , Jie Sheng , Danielle K Schmidt , Ting Jin , Shuang Liu , Soraya O Sandoval , Sara Knaack , Magnus T Eckholm , Rachel J Chen , Yu Guo , Dan Doherty , Ian Glass , Jon E Levine , Daifeng Wang #, Qiang Chang #, Xinyu Zhao #, Andre M M Sousa # (#, co-correspondence) Multimodal analysis of neuronal maturation in the developing primate prefrontal cortex. Neuron 2025 May 20:S0896-6273(25)00308-3. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.04.025. Online ahead of print. see news release.
• Guo Y, Zhao X. CRISPR-based genetic screens in human pluripotent stem cells derived neurons and brain organoids. Cell Tissue Res. 2024 Nov 25;. doi: 10.1007/s00441-024-03934-2. PubMed PMID: 39585363.
• Sirois CL, Sandoval SO, and Zhao X. FMRP gains mitochondrial fission control.  Nature Cell Biology (News and Views) Nov 15 2024 (link)
• Méndez-Albelo NM, Sandoval SO, Xu Z, Zhao X. An in-depth review of the function of RNA-binding protein FXR1 in neurodevelopment. Cell Tissue Res. 2024 Aug 19;. doi: 10.1007/s00441-024-03912-8.  Review. PubMed PMID: 39155323.
• Sirois CL, Guo Y, Li M, Wolkoff NE, Korabelnikov T, Sandoval SO, Lee J, Contractor A, Shen M, Levesque B, Sousa AMM, Bhattacharyya A, and Zhao X. CGG Repeats in the human FMR1 gene regulate mRNA and cellular stress in developing neurons.  Cell Reports 2024 (open access article).
• Sandoval SO$, Mendez-Albelo NM$, Xu Z$, and Zhao X “From Wings to Whiskers to Stem Cells: Why Every Model Matters in Fragile X Syndrome Research”. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders June 2024. PMID: 38872088
• Sandoval SO$*, Cappuccio G*, Kruth K*, Osenberg S^*,  (*equal contribution), Khalil S, Mendez-Albelo NM, Padmanabhan K, Wang D, Niciu MJ, Bhattacharyya A, Stein JL, Sousa AMM, Waxman E, Buttermore ED, Whye D, Sirois CL, Cross-IDDRC Human Stem Cell Consortium, Williams A^#, Maletic-Savatic M^#, Zhao X^,# (#, co-correspondence) “Rigor and reproducibility in human brain organoid research: where we are and where we need to go” Stem Cell Reports (ISSCR society journal) 2024.  It is a collaborative effort across 16 IDDRC centers over the past 4 years. It is considered a major milestone of our Cross-IDDRC Human Stem Cell Consortium.  (see press release)