Yibo Xi, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Basic Sciences Tower
Level 9, Room 165B
Email: yibo.xi@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Research Interests:
My research focuses on environmental toxicology, epigenetic regulation, and disease mechanism discovery, with an emphasis on cardiovascular disease and cancer. I am interested in how environmental and toxicological exposures, including e-cigarette–associated heavy metals and related stressors, contribute to vascular inflammation, extracellular matrix remodeling, tumor progression, and disease-associated epigenetic remodeling.
A major area of my current research focuses on head and neck cancer, particularly oral/head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. I study how exposure-associated inflammatory and epigenetic changes may influence tumor progression, metastasis, therapeutic response, and the tumor microenvironment. In parallel, my cardiovascular research uses vascular cell and mouse models to examine mechanisms of atherosclerosis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, vascular inflammation, and matrix remodeling.
I am also interested in histone methylation–related regulatory mechanisms, including KDM4D and KDM6B, as potential disease-relevant epigenetic nodes. My broader research program integrates molecular biology, animal models, multi-omics profiling, biomarker discovery, and pharmacological approaches to identify mechanisms and therapeutic targets. My earlier work on protein-folding diseases and small-molecule therapeutic strategies for cataract and retinal degeneration provides a foundation for my current interest in mechanism-guided therapeutic discovery.
Education:
2019-2021: Postdoctoral Training, Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA
2014-2018: Postdoctoral Training, Biophysics, Tsinghua University, School of Life Sciences, China
2014: Ph.D., Biophysics, Lanzhou University, School of Life Sciences, China
2007: B.S., Biotechnology, Lanzhou University, School of Life Sciences, China
Positions and Appointments:
2025–present: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Stony Brook University
2021–2025: Associate Research Scientist, Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine
2019–2021: Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
2018–2019: Visiting Scientist / Visiting Scholar, Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine
2014–2018: Postdoctoral Fellow / Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University
Honors:
2015: The 58th China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
2014–2018: Postdoctoral Fund of the Joint Center for Life Sciences
2008–2014: Lanzhou University Scholarship
Publications:
1. Vats A*, Xi Y*, Wolf-Johnston AS, Clinger OD, Arbuckle RK, Sheng L, Jiang X, Dermond CD, Li J, Stolz DB, St Leger AJ, Sahel JA, Jackson EK, Birder LA, Chen Y. Oral 8-aminoguanine against age-related retinal degeneration. Communications Biology. 2025;8:812. doi:10.1038/s42003-025-08242-1.
2. Xi Y, Yang L, Burtness B, Wang H. Vaping and tumor metastasis: current insights and progress. Cancer Metastasis Reviews. 2025;44:4. doi:10.1007/s10555-024-10221-7.
3. Yang L, Pham K, Xi Y, Jiang S, Robertson KD, Liu C. Acyl-CoA synthetase medium-chain family member 5-mediated fatty acid metabolism dysregulation promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. American Journal of Pathology. 2024;194(10):1951–1966. doi:10.1016/j.ajpath.2024.07.002.
4. Peng G*, Xi Y*, Bellini C, Pham K, Zhuang ZW, Yan Q, Jia M, Wang G, Lu L, Tang MS, Zhao H, Wang H. Nicotine dose-dependent epigenomic-wide DNA methylation changes in mice with long-term electronic cigarette exposure. American Journal of Cancer Research. 2022;12(8):3679–3692. Co-first author.
5. Vats A, Xi Y, Feng B, Clinger OD, St Leger AJ, Liu X, Ghosh A, Dermond CD, Lathrop KL, Tochtrop GP, Picaud S, Chen Y. Nonretinoid chaperones improve rhodopsin homeostasis in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. JCI Insight. 2022;7(10):e153717. doi:10.1172/jci.insight.153717.
6. Zhao L*, Chen XJ*, Zhu J*, Xi Y*, Yang X*, Hu LD*, Ouyang H, et al. Lanosterol reverses protein aggregation in cataracts. Nature. 2015;523(7562):607–611. Co-first author.
More publications can be found here.