Dr. Gao is a geneticist whose research focus is cellular morphogenesis in yeast. The yeast-to-filament transition is a stress response critical for cell survival under nutrient starvation in dimorphic fungi. He is interested in understanding the regulatory mechanisms that govern the yeast-to-filament transition in Yarrowia lipolytica, a dimorphic oleaginous yeast that has wide industrial applications in the production of citrate, mannitol, protease, and biofuels. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include biology, genetics, population genomics, and microbial ecology.

Gao has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in biology from University of Science and Technology of China, and a Ph.D. in genetics from Fudan University, China. He also served as a post-doctorate researcher at University of Vermont and University of Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2006. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a professor at Wuhan University, China.