Xiuzhi Dai

Xiuzhi Dai

Xiuzhi grew up in Kaiping, Guangdong, a city best known for its UNESCO-listed diaolou—distinctive fortified towers that blend Chinese and Western architectural styles. She earned her B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2025. For her undergraduate thesis, she studied the hypothalamic control of aggressive behavior in mice in Dayu Lin’s lab at New York University. She is currently investigating how the nucleus accumbens and insular cortex contribute to reinforcement learning and drug addiction.
Outside the lab, Xiuzhi enjoys cooking, running, playing badminton, swimming, hiking, and spending time with friends.