Rate My Professor Yang Gao

Yang Gao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. In the field of Medicine, his research centers on the tumor ecosystem, with a particular focus on the heterogeneity of the immune landscape within tumors, the mechanisms of therapeutic resistance, and the tumor-host interactions that drive cancer metastasis. He specifically investigates myeloid cell heterogeneity in immunotherapy resistance, the bone microenvironment's role in breast cancer bone metastasis, neutrophil interferon-stimulated genes in the tumor immune microenvironment and their impact on immunotherapy response, and the immunosuppressive ecosystems that enable breast cancer metastasis to distant organs such as bone, lung, liver, and brain. To explore these areas, Gao utilizes advanced methodologies including spatial transcriptomics, single-cell multi-omics, tumor immunology techniques, and in vivo genetically engineered mouse models. His work aims to uncover the fundamental reasons for treatment resistance and distant recurrence in solid tumors, especially breast cancer.

Gao earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Texas A&M University, a BS in Biological Science from China Agricultural University, and a BA in English from the same institution. Prior to his appointment at The Ohio State University in August 2025, he served as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine from November 2017 to September 2023. Gao's contributions to cancer biology are evidenced by his highly cited publications, including 'Metastasis organotropism: redefining the congenial soil' published in Developmental Cell in 2019, 'Immuno-subtyping of breast cancer reveals distinct myeloid cell profiles and immunotherapy resistance mechanisms' in Nature Cell Biology in 2019, 'The bone microenvironment invigorates metastatic seeds for further dissemination' in Cell in 2021, and 'Siglec-15/sialic acid axis as a central glyco-immune checkpoint in breast cancer bone metastasis' in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2024. These studies have advanced understanding of immune evasion and metastatic processes in breast cancer.