Guang Yao

About

Professor Guang Yao leads the Yao Systems Biology Lab at the University of Arizona, Tucson, within the Molecular & Cellular Biology department. His research focuses on gene network "switches" that regulate the dormancy and growth of both normal and cancer cells. A central theme of his work is the distinction and connection between two dormant cellular states: quiescence, which is reversible, and senescence, which is irreversible. These states are controlled by an Rb-E2F-Cdk gene network switch and its interacting pathways, including cell metabolism and circadian rhythm. Professor Yao's recent findings challenge the traditional view that quiescence protects cells from senescence linked to stress responses during aging. Instead, his work demonstrates that quiescent cells can gradually transition into senescence without undergoing proliferation, akin to a dimmer switch mechanism. The overarching goal of his research is to develop an integrated understanding of different cell dormancy states and their relationships to cancer and aging. His current focus is on elucidating the "dimmer" control mechanisms that underlie the deepening of quiescence toward senescence and exploring their potential applications in anti-cancer, anti-aging, and regenerative medicine. To achieve these aims, Professor Yao employs an integrated computational and experimental approach, combining single-cell and omics measurements with mathematical and machine-learning models to dissect complex and…

Research topics

• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Cancer research
• Gastroenterology
• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Physics
• Oncology

Selected publications

• Group IIA secreted phospholipase A2 is associated with the pathobiology leading to COVID-19 mortality

  Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2021 · 99 citations

  There is an urgent need to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for severe COVID-19 that results in death. We initially performed both untargeted and targeted lipidomics as well as focused biochemical analyses of 127 plasma samples and found elevated metabolites associated with secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) activity and mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with severe COVID-19. Deceased COVID-19 patients had higher levels of circulating, catalytically active sPLA2 grou…

  DOI

• miR-449, identified through antiandrogen exposure, mitigates functional biomarkers associated with ovarian cancer risk

  Scientific Reports · 2024-12-02 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  The involvement of the androgen receptor (AR) pathway in developing epithelial ovarian cancer is increasingly acknowledged. However, the specific mechanisms by which anti-androgen agents, such as flutamide, may prevent ovarian cancer and their efficacy remain unknown. This study was initiated by investigating the impact of flutamide on miRNA expression in women at high risk (HR) for ovarian cancer. Ovarian and tubal tissues, free from ovarian, tubal, peritoneal cancers, and serous tubal intraepi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals intrahepatic signature related to pathobiology of duck hepatitis A virus type 3 (DHAV-3) infection

  Poultry Science · 2025-01-08 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  DHAV-3 is one of the main causative agents of duck viral hepatitis (DVH), an acute and highly lethal infectious disease in duck industry. However, the understanding of the pathogenesis of this virus in ducklings is limited. To dissect the molecular characteristics associated with pathobiology of ducklings to DHAV-3, we applied single-cell RNA-sequencing approach to profile the transcriptome of 1.4 million cells from 14 livers of DHAV-3 susceptible (S) and resistant (R) ducklings during viral inf…

  PublisherDOI

• Modeling the Depth of Cellular Dormancy from RNA-Sequencing Data

  Methods in molecular biology · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Temporal Associations of Plasma Levels of the Secreted Phospholipase A ₂ Family and Mortality in Severe COVID-19

  medRxiv · 2022-11-22 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Previous research suggests that group IIA secreted phospholipase A 2 (sPLA 2 -IIA) plays a role in and predicts severe COVID-19 disease. The current study reanalyzed a longitudinal proteomic data set to determine the temporal (days 0, 3 and 7) relationship between the levels of several members of a family of sPLA 2 isoforms and the severity of COVID-19 in 214 ICU patients. The levels of six secreted PLA 2 isoforms, sPLA 2 -IIA, sPLA 2 -V, sPLA 2 -X, sPLA 2 -IB, sPLA 2 -IIC, and sPLA 2 -…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Semiparametric ODE Models for Complex Gene Regulatory Networks

  NSF · $164k · 2014–2018

• Collaborative Research: Modeling the Coupling of Epigenetic and Transcriptional Regulation

  NSF · $566k · 2015–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Guoqiang Yu

  Zhejiang Sci-Tech University

  204 shared

• Xiufeng Han

  University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  149 shared

• Yizhou Liu

  Washington University in St. Louis

  119 shared

• Jiafeng Feng

  95 shared

• Jinwu Wei

  Lanzhou University

  77 shared

• Hongjun Xu

  Lanzhou University

  77 shared

• Caihua Wan

  University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  54 shared

• Xiao Wang

  Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  54 shared

Education

• Doctor of philosophy in condensed matter physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  Institute of Physics

  2021

• Bachelor, College of physical science and technology

  Sichuan University

  2016

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