Xiang-Dong Fu is Distinguished Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at University of California, San Diego. Dr. Fu received his MS degree in Virology from Wuhan University, China in 1982, PhD degree in Biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 1988 (via the CUSBEA program), and postdoctoral training at Harvard from 1988 to 1992. Dr. Fu joined the faculty of University of California, San Diego in 1992 (Assistant Professor, 1992-1998; Associate Professor, 1998 to 2002; and Full Professor, 2002-present).

Dr. Fu was responsible for co-discovery of SR proteins, a family of RNA binding proteins involved in constitutive and alternative pre-mRNA processing. His laboratory was the first to identify a family of kinases specific for SR proteins and demonstrated that these kinases are critical for transducing external and intracellular signals to regulate alternative splicing in the nucleus. Dr. Fu's group elucidated a series of regulatory mechanisms for splice site selection in mammalian cells and developed multiple key technologies for high throughput analysis of gene expression, mRNA isoforms, and genomic interactions. Dr. Fu's current research is focused on integrated regulation of gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Dr. Fu's contribution to biomedical science has been recognized by selection for the Searle Scholar award (1994) and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar award (1997) and election to AAAS Fellow (2010).