Xinzhu Yu, a new assistant professor of molecular and integrative physiology in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Illinois, also has joined the Beckman Institute faculty as an affiliate member. She will be a member of the Neurotechnology for Memory and Cognition working group within the Intelligent Systems research theme. Yu’s research interests are to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which astrocytes contribute to neural circuit function, behavior, as well as the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders during postnatal development.