March 27, 2013
Xihui (Alex) Xu poses for a photo shortly before making his dissertation defense to
his advisory committee. In May, Xu will become the first graduate of UW’s Biomedical
Sciences doctoral program. Committee members (seated clockwise, from left) are Bruce
Culver, professor, School of Pharmacy; Jun Ren, professor and associate dean, College
of Health Sciences; Sreejayan Nair, director, Biomedical Services Program; and Enette
Larson-Meyer, associate professor, human nutrition and food program area. (School
of Pharmacy Photo)
He may not be listed in the Wyoming Almanac, but Xihui (Alex) Xu has made University
of Wyoming history of sorts.
Come May, he will become the first Ph.D. graduate from UW’s biomedical sciences doctoral
program.
Xu defended his doctoral dissertation, titled “The Role of Autophagy in Cardiac Stress,”
March 7. Autophagy is defined as when a cell degrades or essentially cannibalizes
itself of unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components. Autophagy plays a pivotal
role in regulating the ventricular function of the heart.
Xu explores the role of autophagy in the heart under different stress factor conditions.
These include obesity caused through a fat-induced diet; pressure overload-induced
cardiac hypertrophy; heart failure caused by the induced use of the drug doxorubicin,
which is used in cancer chemotherapy; and alcohol-induced cardiac toxicity. To conduct
his research, Xu primarily used heart tissue from mice but, in one instance, used
hearts from human cadavers of heart-failure patients.
“Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.,” says Xu, who is
from Suzhou, China. “I would like to help uncover the underlying mechanism of how
these diseases progress. My grandparents, they have hypertension. Right now, they
are both more than 90 years old. If we can find new drugs for hypertension, maybe
they stay around longer.”
For Xu, the magnitude of his accomplishment is still setting in.
“One, I had the pressure to be a good student,” Xu says. “The other side is, for this
program to develop, I had to learn from my experience to see where I can improve myself.”
Jun Ren, associate dean of the College of Health Sciences and Xu’s adviser, says Xu
has sort of been “the guinea pig” for the doctoral program. Ren says Xu fit the bill
for the qualities the program’s faculty members look for in a student. These qualities
include: a high GPA, potential to conduct successful research, the ability to think
critically and to be highly motivated.
“He has set the bar for the rest of the students,” says Sreejayan Nair, director of
the biomedical sciences doctoral program.
In addition to successfully presenting his dissertation, Xu, during the pursuit of
his Ph.D., has been published in professional journals; has written, with Ren, a chapter
for a reference book on obesity that can be used by physicians; and has a patent,
also with Ren, for a cell culture technique.
Biomedical Breakdown
With strong financial support from the National Institutes for Health INBRE (IDEA
Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence) program, the Ph.D. in biomedical sciences
was established in 2010. Biomedical science is the study of human biological processes,
which includes the complex interactions between physiological, genetic and environmental
factors that influence disease and health. It spans the spectrum from fundamental
discovery to innovation and application, according to the program’s web page.
The doctoral program is designed to meet the needs and interests of students, and
to address important workforce demands for doctoral-level, biomedical research expertise.
It also is designed to position graduates for long-term competitive success in the
rapidly changing and multifaceted health-related arena in the 21st century.
In addition to completing a dissertation, students in the program must successfully
complete a minimum of 21 credit hours of core courses, 15 credit hours from electives
in sub-specialty areas and 18 credit hours of research.
“The unique characteristic of this program is that it is the first campuswide program
that focuses on integrated physiology and looks at the human as a body rather than
a cell,” says Ren, who credited Academic Affairs and the College of Health Sciences
for their program support. “This program has better ties to human health and disease.”
Path to a Ph.D.
After receiving his master’s degree in pharmacology and his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy,
both from Soochow University in China, Xu came to UW in 2007. He enrolled in graduate
school and majored in neuroscience through 2010. He started the doctoral program in
that subject, before deciding to pursue the master’s program.
But Xu says he gradually lost interest in neuroscience. He turned his attention to
the biomedical sciences doctoral program that Ren and Don Roth developed. Xu found
the program attractive and decided to apply. Xu was one of 10 initial Ph.D. candidates
who started in the program three years ago. Two students eventually dropped out, with
two more taking their place this past year, Nair says.
Xu’s journey to this point has included what one would expect -- countless hours studying,
writing for publication, making conference presentations and spending research time
in the lab. And he had to juggle that around family obligations, as he is married
and has one child, with another on the way.
While the dissertation, or 50-minute oral presentation to his advisory committee,
culminated his doctoral degree, it wasn’t like Xu drank a gallon of Red Bull and stayed
up all night preparing for his big day. In fact, Ren advised him to get a good night’s
sleep.
After all, Xu had been building toward his big moment for three years. During that
time, Ren, Nair and other faculty members on his advisory committee kept Xu on task
with his research through various meetings, consultations, progress reports and preliminary
and oral exams. In essence, the advisory committee helped Xu build the blocks he needed
to put it all together for his dissertation defense.
“It is challenging. We have to learn a lot about how and why molecular pathways in
the heart are working,” Xu says. “You have to learn to think like a successful scientist
rather than just a student. We have to improve our way of thinking and criticize input
(conventional wisdom about autophagy) of the outside world.”
For the short term, Xu plans to remain and work in Ren’s lab, but will turn his attention
to examining the role that resident cardiac stem cells play in heart development.
For the future, Xu desires to land a faculty position either in the United States
or back home in China.
