Assistant Professor, 

Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Feinberg School of Medicine

Northwestern University

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Dr. Gao's research centers around developing and applying single cell long-read sequencing technologies and computational algorithms onto patient tumors to delineate the tumorigenic and immunologic roles of multi-omics components including splicing isoforms, repetitive elements as well as genetic alterations during tumor progression. Her long-term goal is to translate my research findings into novel therapeutics to extend the life of cancer patients.

 

Her laboratory at Northwestern University studies genetic evolutionary models and cell fate transition trajectories during cancer progression and therapeutic responses. The laboratory has a focus on developing novel long-read single cell sequencing technologies and new computational tools. Previous studies include the development of  the punctuated copy number evolution model (Nature Genetics, 2016), the bi-mode chemoresistance evolution model (Cell, 2018), the high throughput single nuclei RNA sequencing method (Nature Communications, 2017), the computational algorithm, COPYKAT for calculating single cell copy number clonality from scRNA-seq data (Nature Biotechnology, 2021), the long-read single cell sequencing technology and computational tool, scNanoGPS (Nature Communications, 2023) and the intra-tumor anaplastic transformation spectrum (JCI, 2023). The ongoing projects are centered around integrating same-cell multi-omics to co-project tumor cell genetic evolutionary lineages, cell fate transition trajectories and adaptive immunological remodeling during cancer metastasis and recurrence. Additionally, the laboratory is expanding the applications of these novel methodologies onto diverse human disease models, such as heart aging, heart failure and transplantation rejection.

 

(Source: Northwestern University)