Faculty

Dr. Xia’s research addresses clinically relevant questions: (1) how does multiple sclerosis start and how to prevent this chronic neurological disease, (2) what contributes to individual variation among people with multiple sclerosis and how to bring precision medicine to multiple sclerosis. He leads an interdisciplinary research team to harness multi-dimensional, longitudinal, patient-derived data and deploy integrative quantitative science approaches. The long-term goal of his research program is to gain insights into the underlying disease and translates these findings into the clinical arena to improve individualized risk prediction, prevention, and management in multiple sclerosis and other related disorders.

My lab currently focuses on Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transiton (EMT). EMT is defined as the conversion of epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells, characterized by loss of cell-cell adhesion and increased cell motility.