Professor Xu is interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in sight-threatening retinal diseases, including age-related retinal degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and uveitis. His research is focused on 1) the initiation and regulation of retinal inflammatory response during ageing and diabetes, 2) autoimmune response in uveitis, 3) the molecular mechanism of inflammation-mediated retinal neuronal degeneration, 4) the link between chronic inflammation and the development of retinal angiogenesis or fibrovascular membrane, and 5) ocular drug delivery.