Weiming Xia, Ph.D.

Professor, Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Boston University School of Medicine


Dr. Weiming Xia received his bachelor of science degree from Fudan University, China and Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Texas, USA. He pursued postdoctoral training in Dr. Dennis Selkoe’s laboratory in 1995 and joined the faculty at the Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School in 1999. During 2009-2012, Dr. Xia devoted his effort to developing Alzheimer therapeutics in a start-up company before he returned to academia at Veteran Affairs Hospital and Boston University School of Medicine. Currently he is the acting Associate Director of Research at the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the Bedford VA Hospital. Dr. Xia has over 20 years of experience in target identification, characterization, validation and early stage drug development, with exploration of clinical biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. His lab has established a number of in vitro, cellular, and zebrafish-based high-content, whole-animal assays to characterize drug targets. Dr. Xia has published over 100 original research articles, reviews/book chapters and edited a book. His research, currently supported by NIH, the Department of Veteran Affairs, and Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, focuses on the molecular mechanisms responsible for pathological changes in AD, on biomarkers reflecting disease progression, and on exploration and discovery of therapeutic interventions.

Funded Research

These projects were made possible from Cure Alzheimer's Fund support.

Selected Publications

These published papers resulted from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund support.

Steven L. Wagner, Kevin D. Rynearson, Steven K. Duddy, Can Zhang, Phuong D. Nguyen, Ann Becker, Uyen Vo, Deborah Masliah, Louise Monte, Justin B. Klee, Corinne M. Echmalian, Weiming Xia, Luisa Quinti, Graham Johnson, Jiunn H. Lin, Doo Y. Kim, William C. Mobley, Robert A. Rissman, Rudolph E. Tanzi Pharmacological and Toxicological Properties of the Potent Oral gamma-Secretase Modulator BPN-15606, Journal Of Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics, 362(1), Jul 2017, 31-44, Read More

Han-Kyu Lee, Clara Velazquez Sanchez, Mei Chen, Peter J. Morin, John M. Wells, Eugene B. Hanlon, Weiming Xia Three Dimensional Human Neuro-Spheroid Model of Alzheimer’s Disease Based on Differentiated Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, PLOS ONE, 11(9), 29 September 2016, Read More