He began his research in chromatin biology while pursuing his doctorate at Harvard University, under Sarah Elgin.
The following year his lab purified and characterized the responsible chromatin remodeling enzyme called NURF.
[3] In 2012, Wu joined Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as a Senior Fellow of the Transcription Imaging Consortium.
[citation needed] In 2016, Wu joined the Johns Hopkins University as the 23rd Bloomberg Distinguished Professor.
[5][6] He is also a Member of Academia Sinica[7] and the European Molecular Biology Organization, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.