Dr. Gao’s research interests focus on using tools derived from CRISPR to modify genetic sequences to identify and treat causes of disease. One of his greatest accomplishments is the development of the eePASSIGE tool which makes it possible to insert healthy genetic material into human and stem cells, creating a promising possible treatment for a variety of diseases. The tool works regardless of which genetic mutation is being targeted. eePASSIGE has been proven effective in human and stem cells, and in the future Dr. Gao expects to trial it in mice.
"C-BERST: defining subnuclear proteomic landscapes at genomic elements with dCas9–APEX2."
Gao, X.D., Tu, L.-C., Mir, A., Rodriguez, T., Ding, Y., Leszyk, J., Dekker, J., Shaffer, S., Zhu, L., Wolfe, S., Sontheimer, E. (2018). Nat. Methods 15, 433-436.
"Programmable deletion, replacement, integration, and inversion of large DNA sequences with twin prime editing"
Anzalone, A.V.*, Gao, X.D.*, Podracky, C.J.*, Nelson, A.T., Koblan, L.W., Raguram, A., Levy, J.M., Mercer, J.A.M., Liu, D.R. (2022). Nat. Biotechnol. 40, 731-740. (*denotes co-first authors).
"Phage-assisted evolution and protein engineering yield compact, efficient prime editors."
Doman, J.L. *, Pandey, S. *, Neugebauer, M.E., An, M., Davis, J.R., Randolph, P.B., McElroy, A., Gao, X.D., Raguram, A., Richter, M.F., et al. (2023). Cell 186, 3983-4002.e26. 10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.039.
"Efficient site-specific integration of large genes in mammalian cells via continuously evolved recombinases and prime editing."
Pandey, S.*, Gao, X.D.*, Krasnow, N.A., McElroy, A., Tao, Y.A., Duby, J.E., Steinbeck, B.J., McCreary, J., Pierce, S.E., Tolar, J., et al. (2024). Nat. Biomed. Eng. 9, 22–39.
"In vivo prime editing rescues photoreceptor degeneration in nonsense mutant retinitis pigmentosa."
Fu, Y. *, He, X. *, Ma, L. *, Gao, X.D., Liu, P., Shi, H., Chai, P., Ge, S., Jia, R., Liu, D.R., et al. (2025). Nat. Commun. 16, 2394. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57628-6.