Dr. Xiaowei Zhuang

Biography

Xiaowei Zhuang works in the areas of single-molecule biology and bioimaging, focusing on developing imaging techniques to study biological systems quantitatively. The understanding of living organisms has greatly benefited from advanced imaging tools. In particular, understanding the inner workings of a cell requires imaging techniques that achieve molecular-scale resolution, allowing molecular interactions and processes within the cell to be directly visualized. Members of the Zhuang lab apply diverse expertise from chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering to develop imaging methods that offer single-molecule sensitivity and nanometer-scale resolution, alongside dynamic imaging capabilities to meet various scientific challenges. Zhuang's research further applies these tools to study a wide array of biological problems, including how proteins and nucleic acids interact, how viruses infect cells, and how neurons communicate and compute. Zhuang received a B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China, a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral training in biophysics at Stanford University. He joined Harvard University as an assistant professor in 2001, was promoted to associate professor in 2005, and became a full professor in 2006. Zhuang has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 2005 and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards