- Senior Research Fellowship in 2016 at University of Hong Kong
Prof Aimin Xu is currently a professor jointly appointed by the Department of Medicine and the Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy, and also the director for State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (www.sklpb.hku.hk) at the University of Hong Kong. He received his BS (Hons) in medicine at Anhui Medical University in China in 1989 and his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand in 1999. He received his postdoctoral training at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland working on the proteomic identification of novel adipocyte-derived factors involved in obesity and insulin resistance.
Currently
Prof Xu's major research interest lies in the discovery and functional characterization of novel adipokines and hepatokines involved in the pathogenesis of obesity-related cardio-metabolic complications. His team has identified the glycol-isoforms of adiponectin, and the FGF21-adipionectin axis in the protection against obesity-related cardiometabolic syndrome, and also discovered adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) and lipocalin-2 as pro-inflammatory adipokines in both rodents and humans. In addition, his work contributed significantly to the understanding of the molecular basis of adipose tissue inflammation, cross-talk between adipose tissue and blood vessels in the pathogenesis of vascular dysfunctions in obesity and diabetes. His team has developed a series of immunoassays that have now been widely used for clinical diagnostics, drug screening, clinical and basic research related to obesity and its associated medical complications.