Prof. Xiaojuan Xu
Department of Psychology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, USA

Biography:

Dr. Xiaojuan Xu is a full professor in the Department of Psychology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. Dr. Xu has conducted several lines of research, one of which focuses on the neural mechanisms mediating learning and memory, as well as how environmental contaminants impair learning. Due to the basic similarities between the nervous systems of humans and goldfish, and the ease of experimental manipulation of goldfish nervous systems, Dr. Xu has primarily used goldfish in her research, later extending it to zebrafish.

Through a series of studies, Dr. Xu’s research team produced convincing and strong evidence suggesting that activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is required for avoidance learning to occur, and that nitric oxide (NO) initiates changes in the brain that maintain memory of fear conditioning in goldfish. In another series of studies, her research team found that mercury exposure produced learning impairments in older adult zebrafish at much lower concentrations and more severely compared to younger adult zebrafish. Furthermore, embryonic exposure to lead or mercury produced learning impairments that persisted for at least three generations, demonstrating that the effects of embryonic exposure to lead or mercury pass from parents to their offspring and even their grandchildren.