Aimin Xu

I am currently a chair professor at Department of Medicine and Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacy, also the director of State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Hong Kong. My major research interest is on discovery and functional characterization of novel adipokines and hepatokines involved in the pathogenesis of obesity-related cardio-metabolic complications. My team has identified the glycol-isoforms of the insulin-sensitizing hormone adiponectin, and the FGF21-adipionectin axis in the protection against obesity-related cardiometabolic syndrome, and also discovered adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) and lipocalin-2 as pro-inflammatory adipokines that link obesity with metabolic inflammation in both rodents and humans. In addition, the work from my team contributed significantly to the understanding of the molecular basis of adipose tissue inflammation, cross-talk between adipose tissue and blood vessels in the pathogenesis of vascular dysfunctions in obesity and diabetes.Based on novel biomarkers discovered by my team, we have developed a series of immunoassays and POCT (point-of-care tests) that have now been widely used for drug screening, clinical and basic research, and clinical diagnosis for diabetes and its complications.