Our lab employs a combination of molecular, cellular, genetic, and behavioral approaches to dissect pathogenic mechanisms of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Using Drosophila, mouse models, and patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), we aim to identify key underlying pathogenic pathways as potential targets for therapeutic interventions.

Dr. Gao is currently Director of Frontotemporal Dementia Research Center, Professor of RNA Therapeutics, and Professor of Neurology at the UMass Chan Medical school. He holds the Paul Cellucci Chair in Neuroscience Research since 2017. He received his PhD degree studying neuronal RNA-binding proteins from Duke University and did postdoctoral trainings at University College London and University of California San Francisco (UCSF). He started his own lab at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease at UCSF in 2000 and moved to UMass Chan in 2010. Dr. Gao is currently a standing member of the Medical Advisory Council of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, the Research Advisory Council of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and King Trust Basic Sciences Review Committee. Dr. Gao was a Sloan Research Fellow in Neuroscience, a Klingenstein Fellow in Neuroscience, and a recipient of McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award. In 2018, Dr. Gao received a Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the NIH/NINDS.