Xiao Yang joined the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering as an assistant professor in summer 2025. In this interview, Yang shares what drives her research, the potential impact she hopes to make, and what excites her most about being a part of the Hopkins community.
Why did you pursue a career in engineering?
I started my scientific journey as a chemist. As an undergraduate major in chemistry, I was fascinated by synthesizing nanomaterials like graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides. I was excited that these materials could be used in real-world applications such as electronics, optoelectronics, and energy storage and conversion.
However, I realized that the journey from lab discoveries to commercialization was still a long one. I wanted to focus my PhD on something with more direct impact, which led me to explore biomedical applications. I began working on developing nano/microelectronic devices that could seamlessly integrate with biological systems and have strong therapeutic potential, such as deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. My postdoc extended this into organoid-based technologies to model human physiology and disease.
Now, as a biomedical engineer, I still carry the mindset I learned as a chemist—“make new things, make things happen”—to create what was previously impossible.
Why did you choose Johns Hopkins BME? What are you looking forward to most?
First, I was drawn by its outstanding reputation—Hopkins BME has consistently been ranked the No. 1 program in the nation for undergraduate and graduate studies. This recognition reflects the excellence and dedication of the students, faculty, and staff. I firmly believe that the most valuable asset of any department, university, or nation is the brainpower of its people. I’m excited to work with the brightest and most aspirational minds to tackle some of the most pressing scientific challenges.
Second, I appreciate the collaborative environment. Biomedical engineering is inherently interdisciplinary and benefits greatly from cross-disciplinary collaboration. I will benefit from and contribute to the close integration of JHU’s schools of Engineering and Medicine, which fosters an environment where we can translate cutting-edge technologies into impactful medical applications.
Can you give a brief overview of your current research?
Bioelectronic devices have been very important as fundamental research tools for probing and understanding the brain with high spatiotemporal resolution, and as therapeutic avenues for treating brain diseases, disorders, and injuries. However, they face notable challenges in achieving full biomimicry at the molecular level, expanded multifunctionality at the microscale, and versatile programmability at the macroscale.
Our team seeks to tackle these challenges given our extensive research in bioelectronics, chemistry, materials science, bioengineering, and neuroscience. We develop novel bioelectronics and biomaterials for broad applications in brain-machine interfaces, regenerative medicine, and the study of human neural development and diseases.
Have you ever experienced a “eureka moment?”
What comes to mind is when I was designing a bioelectronic scaffold to support neural migration and brain regeneration. I was stuck for some time, and then I came across studies showing that newborn neurons from the subventricular zone migrate by following blood vessels. This process is guided by their interaction with laminin, a key component of the basement membrane.
Inspired by this, I asked myself: can we design an electronic scaffold that mimics both the structure and biochemical properties of blood vessels? To do this, I covalently modified the scaffold surface with laminin and engineered its architecture to mimic the fractal, branched organization of vasculature. Biology often gives me inspirational design ideas.
What do you consider your biggest research accomplishment so far?
We use bioinspiration and biomimicry to design bioelectronics for brain-machine interfaces. For example, we developed neuron-like electronics. Conventional neural probes are much larger than the neurons they record from, but we designed devices that mimic the shape, size, and mechanical flexibility of actual neurons.
Another example is the vasculature-mimetic electronic scaffold, inspired by the way blood vessels guide migrating neurons. We created topographically and biochemically mimetic electronics to support brain regeneration. These are just a few examples of how we apply lessons from biology to inspire the design of devices that interface effectively with biological systems.
What impact would you like your work to have?
I hope my research to serve both as powerful tools for neuroscience and as therapeutic technologies for brain disorders. My lab aims to address the current challenges in brain-machine interfaces by tackling both components—the brain (with our brain organoids), and the machine, or the bioelectronics. I envision that once we address challenges in these two areas, we can bring them together into a fully immersive, fully interactive system that allows us to model, probe, and manipulate the brain.
Do you have any career advice to offer current students?
(1) Be open-minded and don’t be afraid to try new things. You never know where your journey will take you, so embrace new opportunities.
(2) BME is a highly interdisciplinary field, so build a strong foundation in math, physics, and chemistry early on. These quantitative skills will serve you well. You can always learn the rest along the way.