Research
Vision
Precision Gene Medicine for Children
Children with cancer and life-threatening genetic diseases deserve better therapies, ones that are precise, safe, and designed for them from the start. At the Xu Lab, we engineer AI-driven lipid nanoparticle platforms to deliver nucleic acid medicines, plasmid DNA, mRNA, siRNA, circular RNA, and gene editors, directly to pediatric tumors and diseased tissues. By uniting rational chemistry, machine learning, and high-throughput biology, we aim to accelerate the translation of next-generation gene therapies into treatments that give children and families real hope.
AI for Drug Delivery
We build foundation model-powered and deep learning platforms that autonomously close the loop between computational prediction and experimental validation, dramatically accelerating the discovery of ionizable lipids for nucleic acid delivery.
LUMI-lab
A foundation model-driven self-driving laboratory that autonomously designs, synthesizes, and evaluates new ionizable lipid structures for mRNA delivery.AGILE Platform
Active machine learning approach using deep neural networks to accelerate LNP formulation optimization.Multi-objective AI
Reinforcement learning framework for simultaneous optimization of potency, tissue selectivity, and tolerability.
Cancer Immunotherapy & Gene Therapy
We engineer nucleic acid delivery systems operating on two fronts: reprogramming the immune system to eradicate pediatric tumors, and correcting disease-causing mutations in children with rare genetic diseases.
Cancer immunotherapy
Tumor-tailored LNPs for IL-12 circular RNA delivery to activate anti-tumor immunity, and a modular mRNA platform for programmable induction of tumour-specific immunogenic cell death.Gene editing for rare disease
Inhaled LNPs delivering base editors to correct lung mutations, and biodegradable LNPs for intrathecal genome editing targeting neurological diseases.
Lipid Nanoparticle Engineering
We apply rational design principles and high-throughput combinatorial chemistry to synthesize structurally diverse ionizable lipids with tunable organ tropism, biodegradability, and endosomal escape efficiency.
Passerini-3CR
Modular, one-pot multicomponent synthesis of biodegradable ionizable lipids for mRNA delivery.Ugi-3CR
High-throughput synthesis libraries enabling rapid SAR exploration across lipid tail, head group, and linker space.