Dr. Xinyu Zhao graduated from Peking (Beijing) University with a B.S. degree in Biology and then received her Ph.D. training in Pharmacology in the laboratory of Krzysztof Palczewski at the University of Washington (Seattle).  She then obtained postdoctoral training from Dr. Fred Gage at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, California) between 1998 and 2003.  Dr. Zhao started her own independent research as an assistant professor of neuroscience in the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 2003 and received tenure and promotion to associate professor in 2009. She moved her laboratory to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011. She is currently a professor at the Department of Neuroscience and an investigator of the Waisman Center. She is also a member of the UW Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center. She has received several prestigious awards including Junior Faculty Research award in 2009, the Vilas Mid-Career Investigator award 2016-2018, Jenni and Kyle Professorship in 2016  and National Fragile X Research Award  in 2018.

Dr. Zhao is a co-Editor-in-Chief for Brain Plasticity (IOS Press) and also serves as the section editor on stem cells for Cell and Tissue Research (Springer). In addition, she serves as a reviewer for several funding agencies (NIH, NSF, IRSF, etc.)