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Xiao-Bing Gao, PhD

Senior Research Scientist
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Contact Info

Comparative Medicine

333 Cedar Street

New Haven, CT 06510-

United States

About

Titles

Senior Research Scientist

Biography

Fascinated by how the brain controls complex physiological functions and behaviors in higher animals, Dr. Gao pursued his career in neurobiology under the mentorship of the renowned neurophysiologist Professor Te-Pei Feng (AKA T. P. Feng) at the Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Science, obtaining his PhD in 1996. In the fall of the same year, he joined Dr. Anthony van den Pol’s laboratory as postdoctoral associate in the Section of Neurosurgery at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Trained as an electrophysiologist, Dr. Gao’s early interests laid in investigating the modulation of activity in developing and mature hypothalamic neurons by neurotransmitters, neuropeptides and neurotrophic factors. He is the first investigator to characterize the cellular functions of neuropeptides hypocretin/orexin and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) in nerve cells in the central nervous system (CNS). After establishing an independent research group at Yale, his current interests are to understand how biological processes at molecular, cellular and systems levels lead to the emergence of physiological functions (such as energy balance and sleep/wake regulation) and complex behaviors (such as reward seek/addiction, stress coping strategy and social behaviors) critical to animal survival. The group’s major discoveries provide first evidence that experience-dependent neural plasticity in neuronal systems (such as the hypocretinergic and MCHergic systems) in the lateral hypothalamus underlies promotion of positive energy balance and maintenance of wakefulness and arousal, which may contribute to the development of insomnia, drug addiction and obesity-associated behavioral changes in animals.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Postdoctoral Associate
Yale University School of Medicine (2000)
PhD
Shanghai Institute of Physiology (1996)
MS
Beijing Normal University, Physiology (1993)
BS
Nanjing University, Biology (1990)

Research

Overview

The lateral hypothalamus (LH) plays a substantial role in a number of functions including sensorimotor integration, energy homeostasis, sleep-wake regulation, addiction, emotion and regulation of the autonomic nervous system. It has been shown that the LH is a central hub receiving physiological, behavioral and environmental inputs from and sending outputs to other brain structures to participate in homeostatic and behavioral functions.

Despite its critical role in the survival of individuals and species, it is largely unclear how the LH integrates information from internal and external environments to exert its actions. Moreover, it is also not clear how the neural circuitry centered on neurons in the LH make adaptive changes to accommodate physiological, behavioral and environmental changes. Our long-term goal is to understand the logic of how signaling at molecular, cellular and circuit levels leads to the emergence of instinctive behaviors critical for animal survival.

Specifically, the questions that we are pursuing include: 1) how neural circuitry in the LH participates in the regulation of homeostatic and behavioral functions of the brain; 2) how neural circuitry in the LH is modified by physiological, behavioral and environmental changes in mature animals; 3) how maternal and early postnatal experience leads to changes in the development of neural circuitry responsible for dysfunctions of the LH during adulthood.

1. Hypocretinergic control of drug addiction

The long-term goal of this proposal is to bridge the gap between clinical studies and basic research on the role of the hypocretin system in cocaine addiction-related behaviors in animals. Supported by NIH/NIDA

2. MCHergic control of feeding and energy balance

In this project we propose to identify interactions between MCH neurons and hypocretin neurons in the lateral hypothalamus in the regulation of feeding behavior and energy balance in mice. Supported by NIH/NIDDK

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Action Potentials; Anorexia Nervosa; Anxiety; Electrophysiology; Food Addiction; Food Deprivation; Glutamic Acid; Hypothalamus; Ion Channels; Membrane Potentials; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurophysiology; Obesity; Sleep Deprivation; Sleep Wake Disorders; Synaptic Potentials; Synaptic Transmission

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Xiao-Bing Gao's published research.

Publications

2023

2020

2019

2018

2017

2015

2013

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • activity

    New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration 2021 competition (NFRFE 2021)

  • activity

    Society for Neuroscience

  • activity

    Lack of Sleep Leads to Health Problems Like Obesity, Apple Podcasts

  • activity

    Overcoming infertility, Yale Medicine Magazine

  • activity

    On-demand Control of Arousal by Hypocretin/Orexin

Get In Touch

Contacts

Mailing Address

Comparative Medicine

333 Cedar Street

New Haven, CT 06510-

United States