Bin Xu, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Neurobiology (in Psychiatry) at CUMC
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Overview

Research Interests: My main research interests lie in two directions: 1). Identifying genetic mutations with large effects through high throughput deep sequencing. 2). Determining the impact of rare genetic mutations in pathophysiology of major neuropsychiatric disorders using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) based disease model. We have developed methods for mimicing the developing human brain, named cerebral organoids, to investigate how rare genetic mutations [i.e. 22q11 microdeletion syndrome (Xu et al Nature Genetics 2012); SETD1A (Takata et al Neuron); KMT2B (Meyer et al Nature Genetic 2017)] lead to deficits in neural cells derived from patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism or schizophrenia, and what should be therapeutically targeted in these conditions.

Postdoc Position: If you are interested in our research and highly motivated to work with us, please email me at bx2105 at cumc.columbia.edu with a cover letter describing your previous working experience and career goals and your CV.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor of Neurobiology (in Psychiatry) at CUMC

Languages

  • Chinese

Gender

  • Male

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • PhD, Human Genetics, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey
  • MS, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Beijing Medical University (China)
  • BS, Genetics, Wuhan University (China)

Research

Research Interests

  • human genetics of neuropsychiatric disorders
  • human stem cell based disease modeling
  • neurobiology of neurodevelopmental diseases

Selected Publications

Takata A, Ionita-Laza I, Gogos JA, Xu B, Karayiorgou M. De Novo Synonymous Mutations in Regulatory Elements Contribute to the Genetic Etiology of Autism and Schizophrenia. Neuron. 2016 Mar 2;89(5):940-7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.02.024. PubMed PMID: 26938441; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4793939.

Ionita-Laza I, McCallum K, Xu B, Buxbaum JD. A spectral approach integrating functional genomic annotations for coding and noncoding variants. Nat Genet. 2016 Feb;48(2):214-20. doi: 10.1038/ng.3477. Epub 2016 Jan 4. PubMed PMID: 26727659; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4731313.
Takata A, Xu B, Ionita-Laza I, Roos JL, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M. Loss-of-function variants in schizophrenia risk and SETD1A as a candidate susceptibility gene. Neuron. 2014 May 21;82(4):773-80. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.04.043. PubMed PMID: 24853937; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4387883.

Ionita-Laza I, Xu B, Makarov V, Buxbaum JD, Roos JL, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M. Scan statistic-based analysis of exome sequencing data identifies FAN1 at 15q13.3 as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia and autism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jan 7;111(1):343-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1309475110. Epub 2013 Dec 16. PubMed PMID: 24344280; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3890869.
Fénelon K, Xu B, Lai CS, Mukai J, Markx S, Stark KL, Hsu PK, Gan WB, Fischbach GD, MacDermott AB, Karayiorgou M, Gogos JA. The pattern of cortical dysfunction in a mouse model of a schizophrenia-related microdeletion. J Neurosci. 2013 Sep 11;33(37):14825-39. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1611-13.2013. PubMed PMID: 24027283; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3771024.

Xu B, Hsu PK, Stark KL, Karayiorgou M, Gogos JA. Derepression of a neuronal inhibitor due to miRNA dysregulation in a schizophrenia-related microdeletion. Cell. 2013 Jan 17;152(1-2):262-75. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.11.052. PubMed PMID: 23332760; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3556818.
Gilman SR, Chang J, Xu B, Bawa TS, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M, Vitkup D. Diverse types of genetic variation converge on functional gene networks involved in schizophrenia. Nat Neurosci. 2012 Dec;15(12):1723-8. doi: 10.1038/nn.3261. Epub 2012 Nov 11. PubMed PMID: 23143521; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3689007.

Xu B, Ionita-Laza I, Roos JL, Boone B, Woodrick S, Sun Y, Levy S, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M. De novo gene mutations highlight patterns of genetic and neural complexity in schizophrenia. Nat Genet. 2012 Dec;44(12):1365-9. doi: 10.1038/ng.2446. Epub 2012 Oct 3. PubMed PMID: 23042115; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3556813.

Xu B, Hsu PK, Karayiorgou M, Gogos JA. MicroRNA dysregulation in neuropsychiatric disorders and cognitive dysfunction. Neurobiol Dis. 2012 May;46(2):291-301. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2012.02.016. Epub 2012 Mar 3. Review. PubMed PMID: 22406400; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3329786.

Xu B, Roos JL, Dexheimer P, Boone B, Plummer B, Levy S, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M. Exome sequencing supports a de novo mutational paradigm for schizophrenia. Nat Genet. 2011 Aug 7;43(9):864-8. doi: 10.1038/ng.902. PubMed PMID: 21822266; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3196550.

Xu B, Karayiorgou M, Gogos JA. MicroRNAs in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Brain Res. 2010 Jun 18;1338:78-88. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.03.109. Epub 2010 Apr 10. Review. PubMed PMID: 20388499; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2883644.
Xu B, Woodroffe A, Rodriguez-Murillo L, Roos JL, van Rensburg EJ, Abecasis GR, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M. Elucidating the genetic architecture of familial schizophrenia using rare copy number variant and linkage scans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 29;106(39):16746-51. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0908584106. Epub 2009 Sep 11. PubMed PMID: 19805367; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2757863.

Xu B, Roos JL, Levy S, van Rensburg EJ, Gogos JA, Karayiorgou M. Strong association of de novo copy number mutations with sporadic schizophrenia. Nat Genet. 2008 Jul;40(7):880-5. doi: 10.1038/ng.162. Epub 2008 May 30. PubMed PMID: 18511947.

Stark KL, Xu B, Bagchi A, Lai WS, Liu H, Hsu R, Wan X, Pavlidis P, Mills AA, Karayiorgou M, Gogos JA. Altered brain microRNA biogenesis contributes to phenotypic deficits in a 22q11-deletion mouse model. Nat Genet. 2008 Jun;40(6):751-60. doi: 10.1038/ng.138. Epub 2008 May 11. PubMed PMID: 18469815.

For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov