Dr. Guangping Gao is the Co-Director, Li Weibo Institute for Rare Diseases Research, Director, Horae Gene Therapy Center and Viral Vector Core, Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School; Elected fellows, both the US National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Gao is an internationally well-recognized gene therapy researcher who has played a key role in the discovery and characterization of new family of adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotypes, which was instrumental in reviving the gene therapy field, hugely impacting many currently untreatable human diseases.
For 30 years of his scientific research career, Dr. Gao has primarily focused on molecular genetics and viral vector gene therapy of rare genetic diseases, encompassing disease gene cloning, causative mutation identification, patho-mechanism investigation, animal modeling, novel viral vector discovery and engineering for in vivo gene delivery, vector biology, preclinical and clinical gene therapy product development, viral vector manufacturing for preclinical and clinical gene therapy applications as well as technology platforms development as novel approaches for human gene therapy. Dr. Gao has published more than 300 research papers, 6 book chapters, and 5 edited books. Dr. Gao holds 191 patents with 401 more patent applications pending.
He serves as Executive Editor-In-Chief of Human Gene Therapy, Senior Editor of the Gene and Cell Therapy book series, Associate Editor of Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, and on Editorial Boards of several other gene therapy and virology journals. Dr. Gao was ranked as the World Top 20 Translational Researchers in 2017 and 2019 by Nature Biotechnology. Dr. Gao co-founded Voyager Therapeutics, Adrenas Therapeutics, and Aspa Therapeutics, focusing on developing rAAV gene therapeutics for treating a variety of devastating rare diseases. He served as Vice President, President elect, and President of American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy from 2017 to 2020.
