Luping Xu - Graduate Ag Research Spotlight
Microorganisms can do magic under my hands.
- Luping Xu, Food Science
The student
Luping Xu is proud to be from Ningbo, a port city in eastern China with a long history of education and innovation. So, when she arrived at Purdue as an undergraduate, she was delighted to discover two serendipitous connections with her hometown. Stanley Coulter, the university’s first dean of the School of Science and namesake of the biology building, was born in Ningbo to missionary parents in 1853. The Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts is named after another son of Ningbo, shipping magnate Yue-Kong Pao.
For Luping, these were clear signs that she was in the right place. She must be: she came for her bachelor’s degree, stayed for a master’s, and is now finishing her PhD in food science.
“This is actually my 12th year at Purdue,” Xu says. “I really like being here. I like the culture, I like the environment. Food science is a great department, and everyone is really close with each other. That’s why I’ve chosen to stay here.”
Xu became interested in food science as an international high school student living with a host family in Connecticut.
“The host family really valued healthy eating,” she says. “The mom was always looking at labels. That really ignited my passion for food science and my desire to create healthier food for the general public.”
The research
“Due to the diverse research environment offered at Purdue, I’ve been able to have hands-on experience on research projects in various areas,” Xu says.
During her master’s, Xu developed a mammalian cell-based pathogen detection tool for foodborne pathogens. Her PhD research involves bioengineering yeast strains as medication delivery systems.
“Microorganisms can do magic under my hands,” she says.
One of her yeast strains, when taken orally, delivers a biologic medication that helps control inflammation in people with colitis, a therapy that’s usually done via injection.
“Most people who have this chronic disease would prefer to have an alternative way of administering the drugs,” she says — as in, no needles necessary.
Now in her fourth year as a PhD student, Xu expects to graduate in May.
Opportunities
Xu’s master’s advisor, Arun Bhunia, and her PhD advisor, Eun Joong Oh, are both professors in food science.
“Bhunia took me from an undergrad who knew nothing to someone who could do research,” she says. “He’s a fantastic scientist. And Oh is really supportive. He understands my life and cares about my future. I’ve really enjoyed working with both of them.”
With Oh’s support, Xu learned about synthetic biology and how to use CRISPR for genome editing.
"With this new knowledge, I was able to land a summer internship in 2025 at AbbVie in north Chicago, with their functional genomics team. Dr. Oh supported me to do the internship and encouraged me to learn more new things from it."
One of Xu’s most valuable opportunities at Purdue was winning a Commercialization Fellowship in 2023, which allowed her to spend a year working in the Office of Technology Commercialization.
“I got to learn a lot about technology transfer, so that I can bring research from the bench to the next step,” she says.
She’s also collaborated with researchers in fields beyond food science, including a collaboration with a veterinary lab, where Xu engineered a yeast as an animal vaccine carrier.
“The skills I’ve learned can be applied to various fields beyond food science, which is very exciting.”
Future plans
Having spent a year between her master’s and PhD working at a pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis, Xu is open to jobs in both academia and industry.
When she’s not working, Xu spends time with her toddler and her partner, also a food scientist. Her main hobby is running.
“You can probably see me running in random places on campus between experiments,” she says. “I encourage my lab mates to run too. If I see them wearing sneakers, I say, ‘Come on!’”
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