Clement and Xinxin Foundation logo — a lotus below an organic mind and a circuit mind facing each otherClement and Xinxin Foundation

A private grantmaking foundation

Exploring the boundaries of mind, machine, and meaning.

The Clement and Xinxin Foundation advances the science of how brains work, the wisdom to guide intelligent machines, and the art that gives human life its meaning.

See sponsored research Contact the foundation
3
Focus areas
8
Sponsored papers
≈$1.06M
Disclosed grantmaking

Our mission

Exploring the boundaries of the human experience.

Our mission is to explore the boundaries of the human experience — through neuroscience, AI and robotics, and art. We work with top scientists around the world and top institutions to expand what it means to know, to feel, and to imagine.

Through neuroscience, we explore the inner boundary — what the mind can know about itself. We back the development of fluorescent sensors that make the brain's chemistry visible in living tissue — the GRAB sensor platform from the Li lab at Peking University, where neural signaling can be measured as light. We also contribute to WPI-IRCN, the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo, where the foundation's chairman serves as EIR Director.

Through AI and robotics, we explore the frontier boundary — what intelligence can become. We support machine learning research alongside the responsible-AI-leadership work it demands: the researchers advancing AI capabilities, and the forums where leaders grapple with deploying them well.

Through art and culture, we explore the shared boundary — what humanity can feel and imagine together. We support the institutions that keep wonder public — including the Seattle Art Museum — and exchange programs that carry ideas and aesthetics across borders.

Our work

Where we focus

Area I

Neuroscience

Li lab · Peking University · WPI-IRCN

Tools for watching the brain in action. We support the development of genetically encoded fluorescent neurotransmitter sensors — the GRAB (GPCR activation-based) platform — so researchers can measure chemical signaling in living brains with light. Foundation grants made inaugural funding possible for new sensors, including the first GRAB sensor for octopamine.

The foundation also contributes to WPI-IRCN — the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo — where foundation chairman Clement Song serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Director.

Donation reference: PKU Education Foundation, April 29, 2022

Supported institutions

  • Peking University official seal — 北京大学 seal with the names Peking University in Chinese and English
    Peking University
  • WPI-IRCN logo — International Research Center for Neurointelligence
    IRCN · University of Tokyo
Sponsored research
Area II

AI & Robotics

Stanford · Foundation INSEAD · Responsible AI leadership

Both the science and the stewardship. The foundation sponsors machine learning research, and the education and leadership work around it: the Vanessa Gao Research Fund in Artificial Intelligence at Foundation INSEAD, and the AI Forum at INSEAD, the global forum series of IN:AI — the INSEAD Initiative on Responsible AI Leadership. The foundation's support for AI research is also recognized at Stanford University, where the 2026 paper on bidimensional reinforcement learning acknowledges the foundation alongside Stanford HAI and Walter and Sandra Tseng.

Supported institutions

  • INSEAD official logo
    INSEAD
  • Stanford University official logo
    Stanford University
Research fund & convening
Area III

Art & Culture

Seattle Art Museum · The Asia Society

Knowledge becomes shared meaning through art and culture. The foundation supports the Seattle Art Museum and has funded the Asia Society's technological and cultural exchange programs in the Japan region — strengthening the corridors between Asian and Western creators.

Supported institutions

  • Seattle Art Museum official logo
    Seattle Art Museum
  • Asia Society official logo — lion mark
    Asia Society
Cultural support

Sponsored research

Discoveries the foundation supported

Papers acknowledging the Clement and Xinxin Foundation in their funding statements or acknowledgments, 2023–2026.

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 GRABOA1.0 in cells and living flies (Fig. 1). The paper's registered funder metadata names the foundation, alongside NSFC and NIH.

Flagship paper

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

Introduces GRABOA1.0, the first genetically encoded sensor for octopamine — with a ~660% fluorescence response and sub-second kinetics. Using it, the authors found that octopamine amplifies aversive learning by boosting dopamine-mediated punishment signals via Octβ1R in the Drosophila mushroom body.

10 citations · Crossref, Sep 2026 Open access
  1. 2024 Preprint

    A new GRAB sensor reveals differences in the dynamics and molecular regulation between neuropeptide and neurotransmitter release

    bioRxiv, posted May 23, 2024. DOI 10.1101/2024.05.22.595424

    Develops a new sNPF sensor and shows that neuropeptides and neurotransmitters released from the same neuron use different release machinery (Syt7/Sytα vs. Syt1). 3 citations · Crossref, Sep 2026

  2. 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. 20 citations · Crossref, Sep 2026

  3. 2025 Review

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

    Dong C., Wang H. & 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. 8 citations · Crossref, Sep 2026

  4. 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.

  5. 2026 AI / ML

    Bidimensional Reinforcement Learning for Multimodal Diffusion Language Models

    Li, Wang, Zhang, Wu et al. (Princeton / Stanford). Springer chapter, 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. New this month

Grantmaking

Committed to transparency

Verified grant record from the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filings.

2022

Peking University Education Foundation

Two grants for GPCR activation-based (GRAB) sensor research at the Li lab, Peking University — fluorescent tools for measuring neural signaling in living brains.

Neuroscience
$943,692two grants × $471,846
2024

Foundation INSEAD

The Vanessa Gao Research Fund in Artificial Intelligence — supporting AI research and responsible-AI leadership work at INSEAD.

AI & Robotics
$108,800
2024

The Asia Society

Technological and cultural exchange programs in the Japan region.

Art & Culture
$6,510
Total disclosed grantmaking ≈ $1.06 million

Amounts from the foundation's IRS Form 990-PF filings, tax years 2022 and 2024.

Foundation-reported

University of Virginia. The foundation has made grants at the founder's alma mater; they are not yet reflected in the public filings. Year, amount, and program are not stated here — no UVA grant appears in the public filings through tax year 2024.

Stanford University. The foundation has made grants supporting AI research at Stanford; they are not yet reflected in the public filings. The 2026 bidimensional reinforcement learning paper acknowledges the foundation alongside Stanford HAI and Walter and Sandra Tseng. Year, amount, and program details are not stated here — no Stanford grant appears in the public filings through tax year 2024.

Joint projects: WPI-IRCN & the Seattle Art Museum. The foundation runs joint projects with the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo — where the chairman serves as EIR Director — and with the Seattle Art Museum. These are collaborations, not grants. Project years, any associated amounts, and program details are not stated here.

Contact

Research partnerships

The Clement and Xinxin Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation. We work directly with research teams and institutions on a small number of focused programs.

For research inquiries and partnership conversations, please reach out.

Clement Song

Chairman, Clement and Xinxin Foundation

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