Xiaoxue Sheryl Qiu

Sheryl in front of brick wall
Assistant Professor
She/Her
[email protected]
FSCN 168

1334 Eckles Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55108
United States

Google Scholar Page
Education

PhD in Nutrition, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota

MS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Areas of Interest

  • Precision Nutrition
  • Single-cell Transcriptomics and Multi-Omics Integration
  • The Molecular and Cellular Logic of Nutritional Metabolism
  • Cellular Heterogeneity and Remodeling upon Metabolic Stress
  • Liver and Adipose Tissue Biology • Interorgan Crosstalk Regulation
  • Metabolic Diseases (Obesity, MASLD, MASH, Diabetes, CVD) 

Biography

Dr. Xiaoxue (Sheryl) Qiu is an Assistant Professor in Precision Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Dr. Qiu earned her Ph.D. in Nutrition from the University of Minnesota in 2019. Her doctoral research, supervised by Dr. Xiaoli Chen, focused on understanding the adaptive mechanisms that regulate gut microbiota and intestinal inflammation during diet-induced obesity and aging. She then joined Dr. Jiandie Lin’s lab as a postdoctoral researcher at the Life Sciences Institute, Medical School, University of Michigan. During her postdoctoral training, Dr. Qiu successfully applied omics technology, particularly single-nucleus RNA sequencing, to mechanistically elucidate the development of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH). She has been trained as both a metabolic scientist and a bioinformatician. Dr. Qiu began her faculty career in March 2026, and her lab continues to focus on metabolic biology and personalized health management. 

Research

The research in my laboratory aims to understanding how adaptive/maladaptive signals regulate metabolic process in health and disease, and how those factors cause individuals differentially respond to a diet or nutrients. My current research: 1) integrate single-cell transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic data to build a cellular map of metabolic tissues and organs to uncover the gene regulatory mechanisms involved in stress-responsive remodeling and metabolic disorders; 2) identify early cellular signatures and biomarkers of metabolic dysfunction at the single-cell resolution.

Honors and Awards

2024 Excellent Postdoctoral Trainee Travel Award, NIH 

2018 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, University of Minnesota