Brain & Intelligence Research Institute · HKUST (Guangzhou)
The Tao Lab studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate neural development and neurotransmission — in healthy nervous systems and in age-related disease. We work at single-neuron resolution, combining genome editing, live-cell imaging, behavioural analysis and high-throughput proteomics.
01 Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor · Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering Thrust, Systems Hub · The Brain and Intelligence Research Institute, HKUST(GZ)
Our lab wants to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate neural development and neurotransmission, both in the normal nervous system and in age-related disease states — with a particular focus on neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Tao received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Peking Union Medical College / Tsinghua University, Beijing, in 2012, where she studied ageing with quantitative proteomics — tracing how signalling kinases and phosphatases shape organismal lifespan. She then carried out postdoctoral research at Stanford University / HHMI, studying neuronal development and function at the level of single, identified cells — from how a dendrite decides where to grow, to how one neuron can encode two distinct sensory modalities at once.
She now leads an independent group at HKUST(GZ), where the lab uses C. elegans and human iPSC-derived neurons together with genome editing, live-cell imaging, behavioural assays and large-scale high-throughput proteomics to identify new regulators of neuronal development and neurological disease.
BSBE Thrust, Systems Hub & Brain and Intelligence Research Institute, HKUST(GZ)
Neuronal development and function at cellular resolution
Peking Union Medical College / Tsinghua University, Beijing
02 Research
A neuron has to grow the right shape, wire to the right partners, transmit reliably for a lifetime — and eventually it fails. We study each of those stages with molecular and single-cell resolution.
How does a dendrite know where — and when — to grow? We found that dendrites use mechanosensitive channels to proofread ligand-mediated neurite extension, coupling chemical guidance cues to physical feedback from the environment. We are dissecting how stochastic growth plus selective stabilisation produces arbors that are reproducible cell by cell.
Presynaptic terminals are dense, self-organising condensates of scaffolding protein. We showed that SAD-1 kinase controls presynaptic phase separation by relieving SYD-2/Liprin-α autoinhibition, and that the BORC complex drives synaptic vesicle precursor transport through ARL-8 — connecting active-zone assembly to the logistics of axonal trafficking.
Lifespan is written in post-translational signalling. Our work traced how insulin signalling regulates longevity through protein phosphorylation, and how CaMKII and calcineurin converge on the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16. We are extending these axes to the neuron-specific vulnerabilities that underlie neurodegenerative disease.
One cell, two senses. We described how a single C. elegans neuron performs parallel processing of two mechanosensory modalities, using compartmentalised receptor channels to keep the streams separate. We use this as a tractable entry point into how neurons multiplex information.
03 Publications
A full and current list is available on Google Scholar.
Nature Neuroscience · 29(6):1313–1326
PLoS Biology · 21(12):e3002421
Developmental Cell · 57(13):1615–1629
Nature Communications · 12(1):4568
Journal of General Physiology · 153(4)
Biophysical Journal · 118(3):114a
Developmental Cell · 51(5):617–631
Current Biology · 27(17):2569–2578
eLife · 5:e12509
Journal of Biological Chemistry · 289(49):34205–34213
eLife · 2:e00518
EMBO Reports · 13(4):371–377
PLoS Genetics · 8(7):e1002817
Journal of Proteome Research · 9(12):6354–6367
No publications in this category yet.
04 Team
A small, hands-on group of graduate researchers spanning cell biology, genetics, imaging and quantitative behaviour.
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, BSBE Thrust · BIRI, HKUST(GZ)
litao@hkust-gz.edu.cn
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. Student
Ph.D. · MPhil · Postdoc · RA
See open positions →
Red Bird MPhil
05 Lab life
Bench work, imaging sessions, group meetings and the occasional celebration.
Placeholder images — swap in your own photos in assets/images/.
06 Join us
We are recruiting curious, rigorous people at every stage — Ph.D. students, MPhil students, postdoctoral researchers and research assistants. You do not need to have worked on neurons before. You do need to enjoy careful experiments, quantitative thinking, and being wrong in public occasionally.
Backgrounds we especially welcome: cell and developmental biology, genetics, biophysics, imaging, proteomics, and computational or quantitative biology.
Please include a CV and a short note on what you find interesting.