Name： Yi-zheng Yao
Teaching Title：Associate Professor
Phone：+86-177*****327
E-mail： yzyao28@suda.edu.cn
Research Interests：
1）Bioengineering AAV Vectors
2）CNS injury repair and targeted therapies
3）AAV-Mediated Treatment of Glioblastoma
Resume：
Yizheng Yao, graduated from Jiangsu University with a Ph.D. in Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics in 2018. During his doctoral studies, he participated in a joint Ph.D. training program at Harvard Medical School in the United States. From 2018 to 2022, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School-BWH, where he focused on the development of novel AAV vectors and gene therapies for the central nervous system. In December 2022, he joined the Institute of Neuroscience at Soochow University.
In recent years, Dr. Yao Yizheng has published serveral papers in SCI-indexed journals such as “Nature Biomedical Engineering”, “Nature Protocols”, “Cell Reports Medicine”, “Research”, and “Journal of Controlled Release”. He also contributed to the English book “Systems Neuroscience”. Currently, he is leading several research projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Young Scientists Fund and General Program, the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation General Program, and industry-academia collaboration projects.
He is a member of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT). He also serves as a Young Editorial Board Member for the journal Advanced Technology in Neuroscience, a Standing Committee Member of the Youth Working Committee of the Jiangsu Society of Immunology, and a Council Member of the Jiangsu Society for Neuroscience.
Dr. Yao has received several awards and honors, including the Roche Diagnostics China Medical and Life Science Education Fund, the Yangtze River Delta Neuroscience Navigation Award, and the Jiangsu Association for Science and Technology Youth Talent Support Program. In 2023, he was selected for the National Overseas Talent Recruitment Program.
Selected Publications：(* first author; # corresponding author )
1、Yao, Y*., Wang, J*., Liu, Y*., Qu, Y*., Wang, K., Zhang, Y., Chang, Y., Yang, Z., Wan, J., Liu, J., Nakashima, H., Lawler, SE., Chiocca, EA., Cho, CF., Bei, F#. (2022). Variants of the adeno-associated virus serotype 9 with enhanced penetration of the blood-brain barrier in rodents and primates. Nat Biomed Eng 6, 1257-1271. 10.1038/s41551-022-00938-7.
2、Yang, Z*., Yao, Y*., Chen, X., Madigan, V., Pu, S., Fan, X., Pu, J., and Bei, F. (2025). Cross-species tropism of AAV.CPP.16 in the respiratory tract and its gene therapies against pulmonary fibrosis and viral infection. Cell Rep Med 6, 102144. 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102144.
3、Zhu, B., Zhu, L., Ge, Z., Zheng, S., Dai, X., Feng, D., Tan, L., Sha, P., and Yao, Y. (2025). 4-Octyl Itaconate Modulates Dendritic Cells Function and Tumor Immunity via NRF2 Activation. J Inflamm Res 18, 5699-5713. 10.2147/JIR.S516085.
4、Xu, L., Yao, S., Ding, Y.E., Xie, M., Feng, D., Sha, P., Tan, L., Bei, F., and Yao, Y. (2024). Designing and optimizing AAV-mediated gene therapy for neurodegenerative diseases: from bench to bedside. J Transl Med 22, 866. 10.1186/s12967-024-05661-2.
5、He, X*., Fu, Y*., Ma, L*., Yao, Y*., Ge, S., Yang, Z., and Fan, X. (2023). AAV for Gene Therapy in Ocular Diseases: Progress and Prospects. Research (Wash D C) 6, 0291. 10.34133/research.0291.
6、Wang, K*., Guo, K*., Ji, Z., Liu, Y., Chen, F., Wu, S., Zhang, Q., Yao, Y#., and Zhou, Q#. (2022). Association of Preeclampsia with Incident Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease among Women in the Framingham Offspring Study. J Prev Alzheimers Dis9, 725-730. 10.14283/jpad.2022.62.
7、Chen, W*., Yao, S*., Wan, J*#., Tian, Y., Huang, L., Wang, S., Akter, F., Wu, Y., Yao, Y#., and Zhang, X#. (2021). BBB-crossing adeno-associated virus vector: An excellent gene delivery tool for CNS disease treatment. J Control Release 333, 129-138. 10.1016/j.jconrel.2021.03.029.