Email

yudong.gao@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor and McNair Scholar

Neuroscience
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, US

Education

BE from Zhejiang University

Hangzhou, Zhejiang China

PhD from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Memphis, Tennessee United States

Postdoctoral Training at Duke University

06/2023 - Durham, North Carolina United States

Honors & Awards

Young Investigator Award

Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

McNair Scholar at BCM

McNair Medical Institute at The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation

SFARI Pilot Award

Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative

Professional Statement

My laboratory's primary focus is the mechanism of protein interactions in the brain. We seek to understand how the dysregulation of functional interactions contributes to the phenotypes seen in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. My laboratory utilizes cutting-edge tools in proteomics, protein engineering, and high-throughput electrophysiology to uncover new mechanisms of protein interaction in synaptic and ion channel models of autism, schizophrenia, and related conditions. Furthermore, my laboratory is also actively seeking to develop innovative strategies to modulate neural signaling and alleviate phenotypes in models of brain disorders.

Selected Publications

• Gao Y, Hisey E, Bradshaw TWA, Erata E, Brown WE, Courtland JL, Uezu A, Xiang Y, Diao Y, Soderling SH. "Plug-and-play protein modification using homology-independent universal genome engineering.." Neuron. 2019; Pubmed PMID: 31272828
• Gao Y, Heldt SA. "Enrichment of GABAA receptor α-subunits on the axonal initial segment shows regional differences.." Front. Cell. Neurosci.. 2016; Pubmed PMID: 26973458
• Gao Y, Shonai D, Trn M, Zhao J, Soderblom E, Garcia-Moreno S.A, Gersbach C, Wetsel W, Dawson G, Velmeshev D, Jiang Y, Sloofman L, Buxbaum J. Soderling SH "Proximity analysis of native proteomes reveals phenotypic modifiers in a mouse model of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions." Nature Communications. 2024; Pubmed PMID: 39122707
• Erata E, Gao Y, Purkey A, Soderblom EJ, McNamara J, Soderling SH. "Cnksr2 loss in mice leads to increased neural activity and behavioral phenotypes of Epilepsy-Aphasia Syndrome.." J Neurosci. 2021; Pubmed PMID: 34580165