Dr. Fenglian Xu

Dr. Fenglian Xu is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Biology within the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Richmond, where she began her appointment in August 2025.

Prior to joining the University of Richmond, Dr. Xu served as a Program Officer in the Division of Genetics and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Before that, she was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Louis University (SLU). At SLU, Dr. Xu developed and taught several core lecture and laboratory courses in neuroscience, physiology, and biology for both undergraduate and graduate students. She received the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in recognition of her outstanding teaching contributions.

Dr. Xu’s research at SLU focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neural development and synaptic plasticity, supported by both federal and institutional grants. To learn more about her teaching and research, please visit her former lab website.

Dr. Xu earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Alberta and completed her postdoctoral training at the Hotchkiss Brian Institute at the University of Calgary, both in Canada.