Education

1991-1994, Postdoctoral Fellow in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University

1985-1991, Ph. D. in Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco

1983-1985, Graduate Student, Department of Neurobiology,

Shanghai Medical University

1978-1983, Medical Student, Jiangxi Medical College

Academic Experience

2019-present,    President, Capital Medical University

2018-present,    Co-Director, Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing

2016-2019,        Dean, Division of Sciences, Peking University

2012-present,    Director, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research 

2011-2021,        Director, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences

2007-2013,        Dean, School of Life Sciences, Peking University

2007-present,    Chair Professor, Peking University

1994-2007,    Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor of Neurobiology in Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; Elsa Swanson Professor of Neurology in Northwestern University School of Medicine; Director of Research of the Feinberg Clinical Neuroscience Research Institute, Norwestern University, Chicago, USA

Overview of Academic Research

Research in the Rao Laboratory is focused on Molecular Neurobiology，taking interdisciplinary approaches of molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, chemical analysis, electrophysiology and modern optical imaging to study molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying biological processes in the nervous and related systems. His lab revealed the origin of two eyes in a single morphogenetic field, discovered the chemorepellent function of the Slit proteins in axon guidance and neuronal migration, and dissected signal transduction mechanisms of the chemorepellent Slit and chemoattractant Netrin. His lab has found conserved guidance mechanisms between neurons and leukocytes. Rao has proposed the concept of chemoconnectome (CCT) as the entire set of neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, neuropeptides and their receptors underlying chemical transmission in an animal. The Rao lab has invented the generally applicable chemoconnectomics approach and generated new genetic resources to study the functional roles of genes and cells in the CCT, to manipulate chemical transmission and to map neural circuits. Now, Rao lab’s research are focusing on finding new transmitters；screening and investigating conserved small molecules and proteins involved in sleep and other behaviors from invertebrate to vertebrate animals；screening genes related to face recognition in human; fractionating and purifying protein kinase which phosphorylate key sites of important protein and exploring signaling pathway involved in; screening new ligands for GPCRs and studying its physiological and metabolic function; exploring new targets and mechanism to therapy serious disease by drugs and new lead molecules. The Rao lab has carried out research with flies, frogs, mice, rats, monkeys and humans to understand fundamental mechanisms both those conserved among animals and those unique for humans. These results have been published on Nature, Cell, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Neuron, PNAS, Journal Neuroscience，JBC and so on.

Major Honor and Awards

Rao is instrumental in reforming and establishing several leading institutions of science and higher education in China. He assisted the establishment of the Institute of Neuroscience (ION) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai (1999) and participated in establishment of the National Institute for Biological Sciences (NIBS) in Beijing (2004). He was a co-founder or founder of the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies (2002), the Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences (2011), the PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research (2012) and the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (2018). He is a co-founder of the Westlake University. He is a founding member of Scientific Committee of the Future Science Prize of China (2016), and a co-founder of the Xplorer Prize for Science and Technology of China (2018). He joined the Medical Advisory Board of the Canada Gairdner International Award in 2018.

Representative Research Achievements

1．  Rao Y, Jan LY, and Jan YN . Similarity of the product of the Drosophila neurogenic gene big brain to transmembrane channel proteins. Nature 1990:345:163-167.

2．  Jiang H, Guo W, Liang XH, and Y Rao. Both the establishment and the maintenance of neuronal polarity require active mechanisms: critical roles of GSK-3 and its upstream regulators. Cell , 2005:20:123-135.

3． Zhou C, Rao Y, and Rao Y. A subset of octopaminergic neurons are important for Drosophila aggression. Nature Neurosci , 2008:11:1059-1061.

4．  Liu Y, Jiang Y, Si Y, Kim J-Y, Chen Z-F, and Rao Y. Molecular regulation of sexual preference revealed by genetic studies of 5-HT in the brain of male mice. Nature , 2011:472:95-99.

5．  Liu WW, Liang XH, Li YN, Gong JX, Yang Z, Zhang YH, Zhang JX  and Rao Y . Social regulation of aggression mediated by pheromonal activation of Or65a olfactory receptor neurons in Drosophila. Nature Neurosci , 2011:7:896-902.

6．  Biqing Chen, Zijian Zhu, Ren Na, Wan Fang, Wenxia Zhang, Qin Zhou, Shanbi Zhou, Han Lei, Ailong Huang, Tingmei Chen, Dongsheng Ni, Yuping Gu, Jianning Liu, Fang Fang, and Yi Rao. Genomic analyses of visual cognition: perceptual rivalry and top-down control. Journal of Neuroscience, 2018:38(45): 9668-9678

7．  Deng Bowen, Qi Li, Xinxing Liu, Yue Cao, Bingfeng Li, Yongjun Qian,Rui Xu, Renbo Mao, Enxing Zhou, Wenxia Zhang, Juan Huang, and Yi Rao,  Chemoconnectomics: Mapping Chemical Transmission in Drosophila, Neuron, 2019:101(1):876-893 (March 6; Feb.21 online)

8．  Xihuimin Dai, Enxing Zhou, Wei Yang, Xiaohui Zhang, Wenxia Zhang, and Yi Rao. D-Serine Made by Serine Racemase in Drosophila Intestine Plays a Physiological Role in Sleep, Nature Communications ,2019:10:1986

9．  Liu YX, Wang TV, Cui YF, Li CY, Jiang LF and Rao Y，STE20 phosphorylation of AMPK related kinases revealed by biochemical purifications combined with genetics. J Biol Chem , 2022:298, 101928

10．Liu YX, Wang TV, Cui YF, Gao SX and Rao Y, Biochemical purification uncovers mammalian sterile 3 (MST3) as a new protein kinase for multifunctional protein kinases AMPK and SIK3. J Biol Chem , 2022:298, 101929.