Professor Gu Xiaocheng (1930-2012) was a professor in the School of Life Sciences, Peking University, China. When she was the head of the Department of Biology (currently the School of Life Sciences), Professor Gu established the Life Science Center in Peking University and headed the State Key Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering. She also led the effort to establish the State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Bioengineering, and the Center for Bioinformatics (CBI) in Peking University. CBI is the national node of EMBnet. In later years, Professor Gu helped in building the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) and the Center for Pharmaceutical Information and Engineering Research in Peking University.

Professor Gu Xiaocheng served as the chief coordinator representing China for the CUSBEA (China-United States Biology and Biochemistry Examinations and Applications) Program, in the 1980s which brought over 400 students from China to pursue Ph.D. degrees in the US, thus leading the way for Chinese students to study life sciences abroad and return to work in China. She organized a series of conferences that allowed CUSBEA students and others to continue their contacts.