Dr. Ting Xie obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Rutgers University. Currently, He is a full investigator at Stowers Institute for Medical Research and a professor in University of Kansas Medical Center. His main research area is stem cell biology. He is one of the leaders and pioneers in studying the stem cell niche and its mechanisms controlling self-renewal. Dr. Xie was among the first to experimentally demonstrate the existence of the stem cell niche. Recently, he has also proposed a distinct niche known as the differentiation niche for controlling stem cell lineage differentiation. His laboratory has elucidated how the two niches work together to control stem cell development and thus tissue regeneration.
Dr. Xie’s laboratory uses Drosophila ovarian germline stem cells as a model system to elucidate the structures and functions of the self-renewal niche and the differentiation niche as well as the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying self-renewal, differentiation, stem cell competition and aging.  Additionally, his lab has demonstrated the roles of various signaling pathways (BMP, Hh, Wnt and Notch), cadherin-mediated cell adhesion, epigenetic factors, non-coding RNAs and various protein complexes (COP9, CCR4-NOT and eIF4) in the regulation of self-renewal and differentiation. Recently, his lab has begun the exploration of stem cell application in treating retinal degenerating diseases. So far, Dr. Xie has published 64 papers, including 8 in Science, Nature and Cell. Dr. Xie received Hudson Award in 2003, and has been serving on the scientific advisory board of The Glaucoma Foundation and on the editorial board of Cell Research, Development and eight other scientific journals.