Pre-senile Dementia: Presenilin based target identification and drug development

Dr. Weiming Xia’s biological training started as an undergraduate research assistant in the Department of Biochemistry at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. His interest in AD research, however, began during the last year of his PhD program. He decided to develop his research career related to human disease after he obtained his PhD from the University of Texas Houston Health Science Center in 1994. In 1995, he started his postdoctoral training in Dr. Dennis Selkoe’s laboratory. As a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Selkoe’s lab, he carried out two projects in collaboration with Drs. Jie Shen and Michael Wolfe, and results from both studies were published in Cell and Nature.

Currently, his lab uses both mammalian cell culture and zebrafish as model systems to address the molecular pathways relevant to presenilin biology and their implication in the pathogenesis of CNS disorders. They initiate their projects with forward/reverse genetics and explore new approaches for both zebrafish research and therapeutic applications.

On average, Dr. Xia performs 100 experiments for each project every year, and less than 10 experiments led to the creation of figures for publication. The rest of the experimental results serve as the foundation for novel findings. Most of the time, bench scientists encounter confusing results, and a major portion of his efforts are devoted to troubleshooting. As long as his lab is looking at experimental results with prepared eyes, they will be ready to embrace a moment of discovery and excitement.