Research in the Hu Laboratory employs approaches from traditional techniques through high-throughput sequencing of metagenomes and proteomes and focuses upon understanding (1) the structure and function of the marine microbial loop and how it relates to biogeochemical function on biodegradation of pollutants; (2) the anthropogenic impacts in the sea and marine pollutions and the marine pollution ecology.

Questions addressed in the lab include: what the mechanisms of indigenous and introduced microorganisms and their evolutionary responses to the pollutants? What controls the composition and activities of microbial assemblages in seawater and sediments? How the pollutants are accumulated in the tissues of marine organisms and in food chains? What the interrelationship among marine organisms, pollutants and the marine environment? How to develop applicable techniques to remediate pollutants in coastal area? How to measure and verify the changes in toxicity during the bioremediation processes?

Hu Xiaoke, Dr., is the distinguished researcher (orthometric height level 3) of Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences personnel planning and Yantai city plan "double hundred" entrants, the deputy director of the biology and biological resources protection laboratory of Marine environmental microbiology and biotechnology research team chief scientist and the Qingdao Marine science and technology pilot countries members of the laboratory. Currently, she is a member of the Academic Degree committee, the Microbiology Professional Committee of the Chinese Society for Microbiology, and the Marine biological Resources Professional Committee. Editorial board members of journals such as Frontiers in Microbiology, Scientific Reports, etc. She has won the second prize of Ocean Engineering Science and Technology award (the first position), the third prize of Yantai Science and Technology Award (the first position), the second prize of National Ocean Innovation Achievement Award (the fourth position), and the second prize of Shandong Province Science and Technology Award (the fourth position), etc. It is mainly engaged in the research of Marine functional microbial resources, microbial metabolism, regulation and bioremediation of organic pollutants. She has presided over 15 projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and development Program, 973 sub-projects, the Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Special Project (Category A) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the frontier key project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5 million horizontal projects, etc. She has published 86 academic papers on Nature Nanotechnology, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Bioresource Technology, Science of the Total Environment and other well-known journals in China and abroad, including 67 SCI papers that cited 1224 times, and she as the first author has been cited the highest number of papers 238 times. Participated in the compilation of 5 English monographs, and applied for 10 invention patents.