Tian Xu
Drosophila geneticist whose Yale lab helped show that Akt controls growth by phosphorylating the tumour suppressor Tsc2, linking the insulin pathway to TSC
Chair Professor of Genetics and Vice President, Westlake University (since 2018) · Professor of Genetics, Yale University (1993–2018) and HHMI Investigator (1997–2018) · postdoc, UC Berkeley (1990–1993) · PhD, Yale (1990)
Xu Lab, Westlake University (Hangzhou, China) ↗ Lab lineage1 direct trainee →
Portrait: Yale School of Medicine
Tian Xu was the senior author of the Atlas study in which his Yale group showed, in fruit flies, that Akt directly phosphorylates Tsc2, disrupts the Tsc1-Tsc2 complex and needs these phosphorylation sites to drive cell growth (POT2002). This was one of several 2002 papers, alongside mammalian cell work from other labs, that placed TSC2 downstream of Akt.
Xu studied at Fudan University, earned his PhD at Yale and did postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley. He then spent 25 years on the Yale genetics faculty, where he was also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, before moving to Westlake University in Hangzhou in 2018 as Chair Professor of Genetics and Vice President.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | M | Akt regulates growth by directly phosphorylating Tsc2 POT2002 Senior author: fly genetics and biochemistry showing that Akt phosphorylates Tsc2 and that this is needed for Akt-driven growth. |
Co-authors in the Atlas
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Tian Xu.
- Christopher J. Potter As a PhD student with Tian Xu at Yale, showed in Drosophila that Akt directly phosphorylates Tsc2 and breaks up the Tsc1-Tsc2 complex, one of several 2002 papers that connected insulin-Akt signalling to TSC. He now studies insect olfaction
Every researcher with a profile →
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