Hongyi Xu

Australian National University

After completing a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechatronics) degree at the University of Queensland, Hongyi pursued a PhD in materials engineering, specializing in electron microscopy and semiconductor nanomaterials. He obtained his PhD from UQ in December 2013 and received the Dean’s commendation for academic excellence as well as the best thesis of the year award from the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering. In February 2014, Hongyi began his postdoctoral fellowship (Wenner-Gren Foundation postdoc award) in Prof. Xiaodong Zou’s group at Stockholm University. In 2015, he initiated the development of MicroED for studying small organic molecules and macromolecules in Zou’s group. Hongyi became a principal investigator in 2018 to further develop and apply electron crystallography methods for studying the structures of small molecules and macromolecules. He received a starting grant from the Swedish Research Council (equivalent to ARC DECRA). In 2018, Hongyi and colleagues solved the first new protein structure using MicroED and demonstrated that it is possible to reveal protein inhibitor binding using MicroED. In 2024, he joined ANU as a senior lecturer (full time). He is also a researcher/principal investigator at Stockholm University (0.2 FTE).