Dr. Zhengui Xia is a Professor in the Toxicology Program and an Adjunct Professor in the department of Pharmacology. She is also a Faculty member of the two interdisciplinary graduate programs at University of Washington: the Neurobiology and Behavior (N&B) Graduate Program and the Molecular and Cell Biology (MCB) Graduate Program. Her current research interests are to: 1) elucidate mechanisms that regulate neurogenesis (the generation of functional neurons) both during brain development and in adult brain, and the physiological function of adult neurogenesis in olfaction and cognition; 2) investigate whether and how exposure to environmental neurotoxicants, such as heavy metals lead and cadmium, may perturb adult neurogenesis and impair olfaction and cognition; 3) test the hypothesis that environmental factors and gene-environment interactions (GXE) may increase Alzheimer’s disease risk and accelerate cognitive decline; 4) investigate potential sex differences on disease susceptibility upon exposure to environmental neurotoxicants ; 5) identify window of susceptibility of exposure to lead and cadmium on impairment in olfaction and cognition; 6) identify mechanisms and strategies to mitigate the adverse effect of lead and cadmium neurotoxicity on cognitive impairment. She addresses these questions using animal models including humanized transgenic mouse models.Her lab is a medium sized lab that consists of post-doctoral fellows and students who are bright, motivated, collegial, and friendly.