Dr Xin Huang
B.Med, MScMed, PhD

Dr Huang is a senior neuroscientist and immunologist working in The Innate Phagocytosis Laboratory, Neuropathology and Neurodegeneration, The Florey Institute, The University of Melbourne. His research covers diagnosis and treatment of late onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In past eight years, he led a project that recruited 550 AD patients and controls through The Australian Imaging, Biomarker & Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL) looking for the novel biomarkers for AD diagnosis and prediction. By a systemic immunophenotyping study of blood cells, four biomarkers were found tightly correlated with clinical diagnosis of AD, the decline of cognition and the brain Aβ burden. The biomarkers have high potential to be applied in actual clinical practice to assist AD diagnosis and to evaluate therapeutic efficacy of treatments. He also led a project collaborating with Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne developing a novel treatment strategy targeting innate phagocytosis and antagonizing Aβ toxicity for AD by using AD animal models. The results are promising and will certainly encourage development of new drugs for AD. Currently, he is studying on causal genetic mutations of late onset AD in collaboration with ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centres and CSIRO.