A private grantmaking foundation

Understanding what makes us human.

The Clement and Xinxin Foundation supports work in neuroscience, AI and robotics, and art and culture. We back people and ideas that deepen our understanding of the human experience—and explore how discovery, technology, and creativity can enrich it.

Explore our work Contact the foundation

Since 2020

A sustained commitment

Connected areas of inquiry

Neuroscience · AI & Robotics · Art & Culture

Selected research publications

2023–2026

The publication count refers to the selected works listed on this site.

Our mission

Exploring the boundaries of the human experience.

Our mission is to explore the human experience and support work that enriches it. We bring together a curiosity about the mind, a commitment to technology in service of people, and a belief in the power of art to connect us.

Through neuroscience, we seek to understand how the brain gives rise to perception, thought, emotion, and behavior. We support research and tools that help scientists investigate these questions and deepen our understanding of ourselves.

Through AI and robotics, we explore what intelligence can become—and how it can serve people. We support research that advances intelligent systems and thoughtful discussion of how they should be developed and used.

Through art and culture, we explore how people express experience, find meaning, and connect with one another. We support creativity and cultural exchange that open new perspectives and deepen our shared understanding.

Our work

Where we focus

Area I

Neuroscience

Li lab · Peking University

Tools for watching the brain in action.
We support the development of genetically encoded fluorescent sensors in the Li lab at Peking University. The GRAB sensor platform enables researchers to measure chemical signaling in living brains through changes in fluorescence.

By supporting the tools behind discovery, we aim to help scientists ask new questions about how the brain works—and deepen our understanding of ourselves.

Peking University announcement: Foundation support for Li lab research

Supported institutions

Peking University

Institutional service

University of Tokyo

Director of Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR), International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo.

IRCN biography

Research support

Area II

AI & Robotics

INSEAD · Stanford University

Advancing intelligence in service of people.

Through the Vanessa Gao Research Fund in Artificial Intelligence at INSEAD, we support work exploring how AI can advance scientific research and innovation. Our funding also supports the AI Forum at INSEAD, encouraging dialogue on AI’s development and responsible use.

We also support AI research involving Stanford University researchers, including work on multimodal learning and reasoning.

Across these efforts, our aim is to deepen understanding of intelligent systems and explore how they can benefit people and society.

Supported institutions

INSEAD
Stanford University

Research & dialogue

Area III

Art & Culture

Seattle Art Museum · Asia Society

Art that opens perspectives and connects us.

We support art and cultural exchange that invite people to encounter new ideas, reflect on the human experience, and connect across cultures.

Our funding has supported Asia Society’s technological and cultural exchange programs in Japan.

Institutional service

Clement Song serves as a trustee of the Seattle Art Museum. SAM Board of Trustees

Cultural connections

Seattle Art Museum
Asia Society

Culture & exchange

Our approach & impact

Deep engagement. Meaningful discovery.

We measure our work by what it helps make possible: new tools, deeper understanding, and discoveries that advance our mission.

Our approach is personal, focused, and patient. We support a small number of initiatives, engage closely with the people and questions behind them, and take a long-term view of what meaningful progress requires. Financial support is one part of that commitment; attention, curiosity, and relationships are equally central to how we approach the work.

Six years of progress in understanding the brain

Since the foundation’s establishment in 2020, research we have supported has helped scientists observe the brain’s chemical signals and investigate how they work.

This work includes fluorescent sensors that reveal chemical signaling in living brains, tools for observing multiple signals together, and studies that uncover differences in how neurons release chemical messengers. Together, these advances contribute directly to our mission: enabling a deeper understanding of the brain and, through it, ourselves.

Supported research includes two papers in Science, alongside studies in Nature Biotechnology and Neuron. These publications are important milestones. Their deeper significance lies in the scientific capabilities and understanding they contribute.

Our commitment is to the depth of the work—and the understanding it makes possible.

Selected publications

Research supported by the foundation

A selection of original studies, reviews, and conference papers from research supported in part by the Clement and Xinxin Foundation.

Science · 2025

In vivo multiplex imaging of dynamic neurochemical networks with designed far-red dopamine sensors

Zheng Y., Cai R., et al. (senior author Yulong Li) Science, June 2025, vol. 388, eadt7705. DOI 10.1126/science.adt7705

Designed far-red dopamine sensors enable multiplexed imaging of dynamic neurochemical networks in the living brain.

Science · 2023

A tool kit of highly selective and sensitive genetically encoded neuropeptide sensors

Wang H., et al. (senior author Yulong Li) Science, 2023, vol. 382, eabq8173. DOI 10.1126/science.abq8173

A tool kit of highly selective and sensitive genetically encoded sensors for probing neuropeptide transmission.

Figure 1 from Lv et al. 2024: development and characterization of the GRAB_OA1.0 sensor, showing in vivo fluorescence of octopamine in the Drosophila mushroom body — Development and characterization of GRAB_OA1.0 in cells and living flies (Fig. 1). The paper's registered funder metadata names the foundation, alongside NSFC and NIH.

Research highlight

An octopamine-specific GRAB sensor reveals a monoamine relay circuitry that boosts aversive learning

Lv M., Cai R., Zhang R., Xia X., Li X., Wang Y., Wang H., Zeng J., Xue Y., Mao L. & Li Y. National Science Review, 2024. DOI 10.1093/nsr/nwae112 · PMID 38798960

A fluorescent sensor makes it possible to watch octopamine—a chemical messenger—in the living fruit-fly brain. Using the sensor, researchers uncovered how octopamine strengthens dopamine signals involved in learning from unpleasant experiences.

Original research Open access

2025 Original research

A high-performance GRAB sensor reveals differences in the dynamics and molecular regulation between neuropeptide and neurotransmitter release

Xia X. & Li Y. Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, 819. Published January 18, 2025. DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56129-w

Develops a new sNPF sensor and shows that neuropeptides and neurotransmitters released from the same neuron use different release machinery (Syt7/Sytα vs. Syt1).
2023 Review

Current and emerging methods for probing neuropeptide transmission

Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 2023, vol. 81, 102751. DOI 10.1016/j.conb.2023.102751 · PDF

An authoritative field review of the methods used to probe neuropeptide transmission.
2025 Review

Genetically encoded dopamine sensors: principles, applications, and future directions

Dong H., Wang Z. & Li Y. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, April 2025. DOI 10.1016/j.cobeha.2025.101489 · PDF

Reviews the principles and applications of the lab's flagship GRAB dopamine sensor lineage — descendants of a 2018 sensor cited across the field.
2026 Review

Rising Stars: In vivo Monitoring of Neurochemical Dynamics by Genetically Encoded Neuromodulator Sensors

Fu S. & Li Y. Journal of Molecular Biology, 2026, vol. 438(7), 169669. DOI 10.1016/j.jmb.2026.169669 · PMID 41621784

A review of genetically encoded neuromodulator sensors for monitoring neurochemical dynamics in living brains.
2026 Conference paper

Bidimensional Reinforcement Learning for Multimodal Diffusion Language Models

Li B., Wang Y., Zhang Y., Liu J., Guo Y., Wu J., Wang M. & Yang L. Computer Vision – ECCV 2026. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 17035, pp. 688–705. Springer, Cham. Published online September 11, 2026. DOI 10.1007/978-3-032-37464-6_37

A machine learning contribution supported in part by Stanford HAI, Walter and Sandra Tseng, and the Clement and Xinxin Foundation.
2023 Original research

A genetically encoded sensor measures temporal oxytocin release from different neuronal compartments

Qian T., Wang H., Wang P., et al. Nature Biotechnology, 2023, vol. 41, pp. 944–957. DOI 10.1038/s41587-022-01561-2

A fluorescent sensor allows researchers to observe oxytocin release and investigate how its timing and regulation differ across parts of a neuron.
2024 Original research

Monitoring norepinephrine release in vivo using next-generation GRABNE sensors

Feng J., Dong H., Lischinsky J. E., et al. Neuron, 2024, vol. 112(12), pp. 1930–1942.e6. DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.03.001

Next-generation fluorescent sensors provide tools for observing norepinephrine release in living animals.

Grantmaking

Committed to transparency

Selected grants reported in the foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF filings for tax years 2022 and 2024.

2022

Peking University Education Foundation

GRAB sensor research at the Li lab, Peking University—developing fluorescent tools for studying chemical signaling in living brains.

Neuroscience

$943,692

2024

Foundation INSEAD

The Vanessa Gao Research Fund in Artificial Intelligence—supporting AI applications in scientific research and innovation.

AI & Robotics

$108,800

2024

Asia Society

Technological and cultural exchange programs in Japan.

Art & Culture

$6,510

Total grants shown $1,059,002

All amounts are in US dollars. These figures reflect the grants shown from the 2022 and 2024 filings, rather than a complete record of the foundation’s current or lifetime giving.

View public filings

Foundation-reported

Additional support & collaborations

University of Virginia
We have made grants to the University of Virginia.

Stanford University
We support AI research at Stanford University.

WPI-IRCN & Seattle Art Museum
We collaborate on joint projects with the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo and the Seattle Art Museum. These joint projects are collaborations rather than grants.

These additional activities are not included in the grant total above.

Our founders

Clement Song & Xinxin Gao

Clement Song

Clement Song is a serial entrepreneur and investor whose work spans technology, AI and robotics, neuroscience, and the arts.

Xinxin (Vanessa) Gao

Xinxin (Vanessa) Gao is a technology investor and entrepreneur, founder and CEO of J Ventures, and previously led Microsoft Ventures and its Accelerator.

We are drawn to questions that cross the boundaries of science, technology, and culture. How do we perceive, think, and feel? How can intelligent machines serve people? How does art help us understand ourselves and one another?

Through the foundation, we support work that explores these questions and enriches the human experience. Our aim is to help curiosity become discovery—and discovery become something meaningful for others.

Contact

Partnerships & inquiries

The Clement and Xinxin Foundation works directly with research teams, cultural organizations, and institutions on a small number of focused initiatives.

For inquiries about research, cultural initiatives, or institutional collaborations aligned with our mission, please get in touch.

Clement Song

Chairman, Clement and Xinxin Foundation

Contact Clement on LinkedIn