chemistry

Xiao Wang

Xiao Wang is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Xiao Wang rather than just read about it. In short: Xiao Wang is a Chinese-born biochemist who is the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Chemistry at MIT and a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute.

Key takeaways

Xiao Wang belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Xiao Wang to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Xiao Wang from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Xiao Wang is a Chinese-born biochemist who is the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Chemistry at MIT and a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute. Her research focuses on the development of tools and methods for analyzing the brain.

Education and career Wang studied at Peking University and received her B.S. in chemistry and molecular engineering in 2010. At Peking University she studied with Professor Jian Pei working on fluorescent organic materials. In 2015 she received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago where she worked with Chuan He on elucidating the cellular functions of RNA modifications. While at the University of Chicago, Wang was awarded the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad and the Elizabeth R. Norton Prize for Excellence in Research in Chemistry. She was a postdoctoral fellow of the Life Sciences Foundation at Stanford University. She worked with Karl Deisseroth at Stanford and "developed comprehensive methods for analyzing RNA in intact tissues that merge sequencing with imaging, in order to reveal the locations of various cell types in the brain and to find out how these cells are connected." Wang became an assistant professor at MIT in 2019 and the Wang Lab at MIT opened on August 1, 2019. In 2020 she was awarded a Searle Scholars Program grant. She is the first Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute with an academic appointment in the MIT Chemistry Department.

Selected publications Source:

J Liu, Y Kim, C E Richardson, A Tom, C Ramakrishnan, F Birey, T Katsumata, S Chen, C Wang, X Wang, L M Joubert, Y Jiang, H Wang, L E Fenno, J B H Tok, S P Pașca, K Shen, Z Bao, K Deisseroth. Genetically targeted chemical assembly of functional materials in living cells, tissues, and animals. Science 2020, 367(6484), pp. 1372-1376. Y Liu, J Liu, S Chen, T Lei, Y Kim, S Niu, H Wang, X Wang, A M Foudeh, J B-H Tok, Z Bao. Soft and elastic hydrogel-based microelectronics for localized low-voltage neuromodulation. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2019, 3, 58–68. X Wang, W E Allen, M Wright, E Sylwestrak, N Samusik, S Vesuna, K Evans, C Liu, C Ramakrishnan, J Liu, G P Nolan, F-A Bava, K Deisseroth. Three-dimensional intact-tissue-sequencing of single-cell transcriptional states. Science 2018, eaat5691. I A Roundtree, G-Z Luo, Z Zhang, X Wang, T Zhou, Y Cui, J Sha, X Huang, L Guerrero, P Xie, E He, B Shen, C He. YTHDC1 mediates nuclear export of N6-methyladenosine methylated mRNAs. elife 2017,6, e31311 H Shi, X Wang, Z Lu, B S Zhao, H Ma, P J Hsu, C He. YTHDF3 facilitates translation and decay of N6-methyladenosine-modified RNA. Cell Research 2017, 27, 315. B S Zhao, X Wang, A V Beadell, Z Lu, H Shi, A Kuuspalu, R K Ho, C He. m6A-dependent maternal mRNA clearance facilitates zebrafish maternal-to-zygotic transition. Nature 2017, 542, 475. X Wang, B S Zhao, I A Roundtree, Z Lu, D Han, H Ma, X Weng, K Chen, H Shi, C He. N6-methyladenosine modulates messenger RNA translation efficiency. Cell 2015, 161, 1388.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Xiao Wang

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Xiao Wang claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Xiao Wang before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Xiao Wang ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Xiao Wang

In research: Xiao Wang appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Xiao Wang in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Xiao Wang is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American women, American chemist stubs, American women chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Xiao Wang outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Xiao Wang in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Xiao Wang means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Xiao Wang out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Xiao Wang in simple terms?

Xiao Wang is a Chinese-born biochemist who is the Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Chemistry at MIT and a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute.

Why does Xiao Wang matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Xiao Wang?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Xiao Wang.