Maxwell Tu

M.D./Ph.D. Student

Maxwell Tu

About Me

I grew up in Newton, MA, a suburb outside of Boston. I have long been interested in pursuing medicine due to my personal experiences with my family’s health, but during my undergraduate years and my time after graduation I also developed a passion for performing biomedical research. I went to Tufts University where I got my B.S. in biochemistry, and after graduating I stayed at Tufts in Dr. Jake Chen’s lab, where I investigated the potential of a small molecule drug in treating diabetic kidney disease. My experience in that lab solidified my interest in metabolism research, which I plan to continue pursuing during my graduate training.

Hobbies/Interests

Cooking, running, video games

Research Topic

Diabetes, metabolism, drug discovery

Why I chose MD/PhD

I have a lot of interest in both providing direct patient care as well as in advancing the medical field broadly through biomedical research. The MD/PhD will allow me to be deeply involved in both of those areas, and I believe that the nature of the combined degrees will uniquely enhance my perspectives in the future as both a physician and a scientist.

Why I chose MD/PhD at UT San Antonio

UT San Antonio has strong researchers in the research areas I’m interested in, and the close-knit nature of the MD/PhD community here makes it a great place for me to pursue my training for the next several years.

Post-bac work or other affiliations

Research Technician at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine

Education

B.S., Biochemistry, Tufts University, 2023

Publications

Xie, Y., Ma, Q., Wang, J., Zhu, Z. X., El-Araby, R. E., Tu, M., Li, Z., Xu, X., Tu, Q., & Chen, J. (2025). Effects of Modified Messenger RNA of Adiponectin Delivered by Lipid Nanoparticles on Adipogenesis and Bone Metabolism In Vitro and In Vivo. Cells, 14(12), 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells14120891

Qiu, W., Wu, H., Hu, Z., Wu, X., Tu, M., Fang, F., Zhu, X., Liu, Y., Lian, J., Valverde, P., Van Dyke, T., Steffensen, B., Dong, L. Q., Tu, Q., Zhou, X., & Chen, J. (2021). Identification and characterization of a novel adiponectin receptor agonist adipo anti-inflammation agonist and its anti-inflammatory effects in vitro and in vivo. British journal of pharmacology, 178(2), 280–297. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.15277