Ding Xue obtained his PhD at Columbia University and did postdoctoral work at MIT. Currently he is Professor of Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. Dr. Xue's research interests lie in studying the mechanisms of programmed cell death (or apoptosis), phospholipid asymmetry in biological membranes, mitochondrial inheritance, and radiation-induced bystander effects, as well as various human diseases associated with abnormalities in these fundamental biological processes. His laboratory has been using molecular genetic, biochemical, cell biological, pharmacological, and structural biological approaches to study the mechanisms that regulate and execute these important cellular and developmental processes in the nematode C. elegans and in mammals. Dr. Xue’s group also studies mechanisms underlying liver cell death and pathogenesis caused by infection of hepatitis B virus using C. elegans as an animal model and develops therapeutic strategies to eradicate hepatitis B virus and halt disease progression.