Cheng Xu received his Bachelor's degree in Optical Information Science and Technology from the Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He earned his Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Biophysics under a joint training program between USTC and Harvard University, and subsequently completed his postdoctoral research at USTC. Starting from 2026, he works as a Research Fellow at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT, CAS).

His research mainly focuses on mesoscopic neural mapping, state-of-the-art optical microscopic imaging technologies and neural synaptic plasticity. He has published research papers as (co-)first author or corresponding author in journals including Cell, Cell Discovery and Angewandte Chemie International Edition. He is the holder of two invention patents. As a key team member, he has taken part in numerous research projects such as Major Programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Project.

In the future, he will devote himself to constructing atlases of the central and peripheral nervous systems in rodents and primates, as well as developing multi-modal imaging technologies for spatial transcriptomics and connectomics.

Leveraging cutting-edge optical microscopic imaging techniques to resolve the structure and function of neural systems across multiple scales.

1. Shi, M. Y., Y. Yao, M. Wang, Q. Yang, L. Ding, R. Li, Y. Li, H. Huang, C. Y. Yang, Z. Zhou, Z. Zhu, P. Wen, F. Dai, X. Zeng, K. M. Zhang, Y. Guo, Z. A. Sun, H. Xia, Z. Ren, Y. O. Cakmak, M. Zhang, F. Xu, L. Qu, Q. Zhu, P. M. Lau, C. Xu and G. Q. Bi (2025). "High-speed mapping of whole-mouse peripheral nerves at subcellular resolution." Cell 188(14): 3897-3915.e3820.
2. Xu, F., Y. Shen, L. Ding, C. Y. Yang, H. Tan, H. Wang, Q. Zhu, R. Xu, F. Wu, Y. Xiao, C. Xu, Q. Li, P. Su, L. I. Zhang, H. W. Dong, R. Desimone, F. Xu, X. Hu, P. M. Lau and G. Q. Bi (2021). "High-throughput mapping of a whole rhesus monkey brain at micrometer resolution." Nat Biotechnol 39(12): 1521-1528.
3. Liu, Y. T., C. L. Tao, X. Zhang, W. Xia, D. Q. Shi, L. Qi, C. Xu, R. Sun, X. W. Li, P. M. Lau, Z. H. Zhou and G. Q. Bi (2020). "Mesophasic organization of GABA(A) receptors in hippocampal inhibitory synapses." Nat Neurosci 23(12): 1589-1596.
4. Xu, C, H. J. Liu, L. Qi, C. L. Tao, Y. J. Wang, Z. Shen, C. L. Tian, P. M. Lau and G. Q. Bi (2020). "Structure and plasticity of silent synapses in developing hippocampal neurons visualized by super-resolution imaging." Cell Discov 6: 8.
5. Chen, X., C. Xu, T. Wang, C. Zhou, J. Du, Z. Wang, H. Xu, T. Xie, G. Bi, J. Jiang, X. Zhang, J. N. Demas, C. O. Trindle, Y. Luo and G. Zhang (2016). "Versatile Room-Temperature-Phosphorescent Materials Prepared from N-Substituted Naphthalimides: Emission Enhancement and Chemical Conjugation." Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 55(34): 9872-9876.
6. Shim, S. H., C. Xia, G. Zhong, H. P. Babcock, J. C. Vaughan, B. Huang, X. Wang, C. Xu, G. Q. Bi and X. Zhuang (2012). "Super-resolution fluorescence imaging of organelles in live cells with photoswitchable membrane probes." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109(35): 13978-13983.