Dr Jiabao Xu
- Lecturer (Biomedical Engineering)
Biography
After completing my MSci degree in Chemistry at Imperial College London, I obtained my PhD degree in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford in 2020. I joined the Univeristy of Glasgow as a lecturer in 2023. My research focus has been around single-cell techniques, exploring diverse aspects of cellular metabolism in bacteria and mammalian cells. My work, featured in leading journals like PNAS, Advanced Science and Analytical Chemistry, has positioned me as an innovator in single-cell studies.
I have been at the forefront of new innovations in the development of data mining and artificial intelligence models in single-cell Raman studies. My expertise has been instrumental in an Innovate UK-China call for the identification of clinical pathogens by Raman spectroscopy using large datasets (>500k single-cell spectra). Currently, the methods are undergoing extensive validation studies in a series of hospitals in China.
Since 2016, I have been investigating cell metabolism in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This work has yielded promising results, including the discovery of novel biomarkers in the blood of ME/CFS patients as well as a pioneering single-cell Raman platform enhanced by ensemble learning as a diagnostic test. This approach demonstrated exceptional promise as a diagnostic tool for ME/CFS, achieving an accuracy rate of 91% across 98 subjects. The implications of this innovation extend beyond ME/CFS, holding great potential for diagnosing a wide range of chronic diseases.
My research journey equipped me with expertise in single-cell Raman spectroscopy, advanced optical imaging, cell sorting, isotope probing, data mining and artificial intelligence. I have published 22 peer-reviewed papers and a book chapter on Raman applications. I have served as guest editors in Frontiers in Microbiology and Cancers, leading themes focused on single-cell technologies.
Research interests
My current reserarch interests are development and applications of single-cell technologies in the biomedical field. More particularly, my activities encompass the following domains:
- Single-cell Raman diagnosis of diseases using PBMCs from blood with a focus on chronic fatigue, such as post-acute infection chronic syndromes like ME/CFS, long COVID and chronic Lyme diseases, as well as inflammatory autoimmune diseases.
- Mutimodal data mining combining single-cell, omics, and clinical data to address biomedical questions
- Stem cell research using single-cell technologies to look at stem cell differentiation stages and aging
Professional activities & recognition
Editorial boards
- 2022: Frontiers in Microbiology
- 2022: Cancers
Selected international presentations
- 2017: ASM Microbe (New Orleans, USA)
- 2023: ILADS (Boston, USA)