Yao Yao, PhD

Assoc Professor, College of Medicine Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology

Contact Info 12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 8
Tampa FL 33612

Academic Email: yao7@usf.edu

Academic Phone:(813) 974-9489

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Education

Interdisciplinary and Emerging Signature Programs

• Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Disease
• Biomedical Engineering & Nanomedicine
• Cardiovascular Sciences
• Cellular and Molecular Biology
• Neurodegenerative Disease
• Neuroscience

Research Interests

• The Yao Lab studies the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) and various neurological disorders (Stroke and Alzheimer's disease) with a focus on laminin, a major component of the basal lamina/basement membrane. Specifically, we are investigating: (1) how laminin regulates BBB integrity under both physiological and pathological conditions; and (2) how laminin affects the pathogenesis of stroke (hemorrhagic and ischemic) and Alzheimer's disease. We have generated a series of laminin conditional knockout and knock-in mouse lines target each and every cell type in the CNS. By using these transgenic mice and many other techniques, we hope to dissect out the function of laminin in the CNS and develop innovative therapies for stroke, Alzheimer disease, and other neurological disorders.

Memberships

• Member (International Society for Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 2017 - Present)
• Member (American Society for Matrix Biology, 2017 - Present)
• Member (American Heart Association, 2012 - Present)
• Member (Society for Neuroscience, 2008 - Present)

Recent Publications

• Yao Yao Laminin: loss-of-function studies Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 74(6) : 1095-1115
• Young Cheul Chung, Anna Kruyer, Yao Yao, Emily Feierman, Allison Richards, Sidney Strickland, Erin H, Norris Hyperhomocysteinemia exacerbates Alzheimer’s disease pathology by way of the Aβ-fibrinogen interaction. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. 14(7) : 1442-1452
• Yao Yao Basement membrane and stroke Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. 39(1) : 3-19
• Yao Yao, Sonali Shaligram, Hua Su Brain vascular biology Handbook of clinical neurology. 176: 49-69, 2021.
• Lingling Xu, Yao Yao. Central Nervous System Fibroblast-Like Cells in Stroke and Other Neurological Disorders. Stroke. 52(7) : 2456-2464, 2021.
• Jyoti Gautam, Yu Cao, Yao Yao. Pericytic Laminin Maintains Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity in an Age-Dependent Manner. Translational stroke research. 11(2) : 228-242, 2020.
• Jingsong Ruan, Yao Yao. Behavioral tests in rodent models of stroke. Brain hemorrhages. 1(4) : 171-184, 2020.
• Minkyung Kang, Yao Yao. Basement Membrane Changes in Ischemic Stroke. Stroke. 51(4) : 1344-1352, 2020.
• Jyoti Gautam, Lingling Xu, Abhijit Nirwane, Benjamin Nguyen, Yao Yao. Loss of mural cell-derived laminin aggravates hemorrhagic brain injury. Journal of neuroinflammation. 17(1) : 103, 2020.
• Jyoti Gautam, Jeffrey Miner, Yao Yao. Loss of Endothelial Laminin α5 Exacerbates Hemorrhagic Brain Injury. Translational stroke research. 10(6) : 705-718, 2019.
• Jyoti Gautam, Yao Yao. Pericytes in Skeletal Muscle. Advances in experimental medicine and biology. 1122: 59-72, 2019.
• Lingling Xu, Abhijit Nirwane, Yao Yao. Basement membrane and blood-brain barrier. Stroke and vascular neurology. 4(2) : 78-82, 2019.
• Minkyung Kang, Yao Yao. Oligodendrocytes in intracerebral hemorrhage. CNS neuroscience & therapeutics. 25(10) : 1075-1084, 2019.
• Jyoti Gautam, Yao Yao. Roles of Pericytes in Stroke Pathogenesis. Cell transplantation. 27(12) : 1798-1808, 2018.
• Nirwane A, Yao Y. Laminins and their receptors in the CNS. Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. , 2018.
• Jyoti Gautam, Abhijit Nirwane, Yao Yao. Laminin differentially regulates the stemness of type I and type II pericytes. Stem cell research & therapy. 8(1) : 28, 2017.
• Abhijit Nirwane, Jyoti Gautam, Yao Yao. Isolation of Type I and Type II Pericytes from Mouse Skeletal Muscles. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE. (123) , 2017.
• Yao Yao, Erin H. Norris, Christopher E. Mason, Sidney Strickland. Laminin regulates PDGFRβ(+) cell stemness and muscle development. Nature communications. 7: 11415, 2016.
• Jyoti Gautam, Xuanming Zhang, Yao Yao. The role of pericytic laminin in blood brain barrier integrity maintenance. Scientific reports. 6: 36450, 2016.
• Yao Yao, Erin H. Norris, Sidney Strickland. The cellular origin of laminin determines its role in blood pressure regulation. Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS. 72(5) : 999-1008, 2015.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and the blood-brain barrier. Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS. 71(4) : 683-97, 2014.
• Yarong He, Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka, Yu Cao. Cell-culture models of the blood-brain barrier. Stroke. 45(8) : 2514-26, 2014.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. Mouse monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) functions as a monomer. The international journal of biochemistry & cell biology. 55: 51-9, 2014.
• Yao Yao, Zulin Chen, Erin H. Norris, Sidney Strickland. Astrocytic laminin regulates pericyte differentiation and maintains blood brain barrier integrity. Nature communications. 5: 3413, 2014.
• Zulin Chen, Yao Yao, Erin H. Norris, Anna Kruyer, Odella Jno-Charles, Akbarshakh Akhmerov, Sidney Strickland. Ablation of astrocytic laminin impairs vascular smooth muscle cell function and leads to hemorrhagic stroke. The Journal of cell biology. 202(2) : 381-95, 2013.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. The CCL2-CCR2 system affects the progression and clearance of intracerebral hemorrhage. Glia. 60(6) : 908-18, 2012.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. Chemokines and their receptors in intracerebral hemorrhage. Translational stroke research. 3: 70-9, 2012.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. Truncation of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 by plasmin promotes blood-brain barrier disruption. Journal of cell science. 124: 1486-95, 2011.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. Mouse MCP1 C-terminus inhibits human MCP1-induced chemotaxis and BBB compromise. Journal of neurochemistry. 118(2) : 215-23, 2011.
• Yao Yao, Stella E. Tsirka. The C terminus of mouse monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) mediates MCP1 dimerization while blocking its chemotactic potency. The Journal of biological chemistry. 285(41) : 31509-16, 2010.

Awards/Honors

• STaR Young Investigator Award (The University of Georgia and Augusta University - 2017)
• Stroke Basic Science Award (American Heart Association - 2017)
• Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) (American Heart Association (AHA) - 2023)
• Runner-Up Winner of the USF Single Cell Analysis Research Award (10X Genomics, Illumina, and USF - 2024)
• Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Award (University of South Florida - 2024)