Yajing Gao, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

MacDonald Research Laboratory

675 Charles E Young Dr.
Los Angeles, CA, 90095

Email /Google Scholar / BlueSky / X / C.V.

Education

David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (2020- )

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Tontonoz Laboratory

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (2013-2019)

Ph.D. in Immunology, Pasare and Wakeland Laboratories

University of Science and Technology of China (2009-2013)

B.S. in Biological Sciences

Awards/Funding

  • NIDDK K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (2025)

  • Franz Simon Award, Kern Lipid Conference (2024)

  • NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Science UCLA-CTSI T1/T2 Accelerator Program (2022)

  • The Mark Foundation Fellowship Award, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (2020)

Interests

Scientific: Cellular immunity, immuno-metabolism, lipids, cellular trafficking, autoimmunity, gut physiology, obesity, inflammation, dietary impacts.

After-hours: Hiking/Backpacking, rock climbing, travelling, exploring new cities and restaurants, listening to classical music, petting every animal possible, raising my two spoiled cats.

Backgrounds

I am currently a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Peter Tontonoz at David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, supported by The Mark Foundation, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, and an NIDDK K99 Award. My research aims to understand intracellular lipid trafficking pathways in immunoregulation and physiological metabolism. One of my recent works discovered that the non-vesicular cholesterol transport mechanism is a metabolic checkpoint that controls mucosal immunity and nutrient uptake.

I was born in Xi’an, the eastern end of the Silk Roads, and moved around China and Japan with my family as a child, which set my life-long passion for traveling and exploration of new cultures. After college, I ended up in north Texas to pursue my PhD with Drs. Chandrashekhar Pasare (now at the Division of Immunobiology, Cincinnati Children’s) and Edward Wakeland in the Department of Immunology, UT Southwestern Medical Center. As a graduate student, I focused on innate control of adaptive immunity. I developed a method to track dendritic cell-mediated T cell differentiation and discovered the role of Caspase-1 in regulating Th17 responses in enteric infections and IBD. I also collaborated on understanding human innate immunity.

My scientific vision is to unravel the intricate interactions between the immune system and lipid species in physiology and in metabolic, digestive, and malignant diseases.

Curriculum Vitae

  • Postdoctoral Scholar (2020 – present)

    David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, CA

    Laboratory of Dr. Peter Tontonoz

    • Studying the functions of intracellular lipid trafficking in immunity, physiology, and metabolic diseases

    • Dissecting immunological control of intestinal lipid metabolism

    Postgraduate Researcher (2019 – 2020)

    Laboratory of Dr. Edward Wakeland

    UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX

    Continued research on innate control of adaptive immunity and the role of IRF1 in differentially regulating human innate immune response

    Graduate Student (2014 – 2019)

    Laboratories of Drs. Chandrashekhar Pasare and Edward Wakeland (co-mentorship)

    UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX

    • Developed a co-culture toolkit that led to the identification of a non-canonical role of Caspase-1 in physiological T helper-17 (Th17) differentiation

    • Pursued innate immune mechanisms that specify Th17 differentiation and identified a stress-sensing pathway in dendritic cells that dictates Th17 lineage

    • Multiple collaborations on elucidating human innate immune pathways in autoimmunity and viral infection

    Rotation Student (2013 – 2014)

    Laboratories of Dr. Sean Morrison and Dr. Bruce Beutler

    UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX

    Explored a new osteogenic growth factor and in vivo mutagenesis screens to identify new regulators of innate immunity

    Undergraduate Thesis (2011 – 2013)

    Laboratory of Dr. Yupeng Yang

    University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Examined pharmacological effects of nanoparticles on hippocampal neuron differentiation

    Cross-Disciplinary Scholar in Science and Technology (2012)

    Laboratory of Dr. David Glanzman

    University of California Los Angeles, CA

    Studied neuronal connectivity during memory formation in Aplysia and zebrafish models

    Summer Research Intern (2011)

    Laboratory of Dr. Rongguang Zhang

    Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Used protein expression system to purify Kindlin-2 PH domain for X-ray crystallography

  • Nominee, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Award, UCLA, 2025

    The American Association of Immunologists Trainee Travel Award, 2025

    The Mark Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, 2021 –  2024

    Franz Simon Award, Kern Lipid Conference, 2024

    Early Career Investigator (ECI) Travel Award, Kern Lipid Conference, 2024

    3rd prize poster, UCLA Cardiovascular Retreat, 2023

    2nd place, the Broad Stem Cell Center light microscopy image contest, 2023

    3rd place, UCLA-CNSI Lightfest! Image Contest, 2023

    UTSW Graduate Student Organization Travel Award, 2018

    The American Association of Immunologists Trainee Award, 2018

    Streilein Travel Award, UT Southwestern, 2016

    Streilein Award for Best Graduate Student Qualification Exam, UT Southwestern, 2015

    Honored Graduates, University of Science and Technology of China, 2013

    CSST summer research fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles, 2012

    National College Students’ Innovation Training Grant (Gao Y, Co-PI), 2011-2013

    Outstanding Student Scholarship, University of Science and Technology of China, 2011-2012

    Outstanding Freshman Scholarship, University of Science and Technology of China, 2009

    Shi-tsan Pai Talent Program in Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, 2009-2013

  • 10/2025 - Morgridge Institute for Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison

    05/2025 - The American Association of Immunologists Annual Meeting, Honolulu, HI

    03/2025 - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA

    02/2025 - Keystone Symposia: Immunometabolism in Tissue Homeostasis and Diseases, Keystone, CO

    10/2024 - Leducq Networks of Excellence Cholesterol Constellation Annual Meeting, “Intracellular Lipid Transport: Metabolic Checkpoints in Immunity and Physiology”, Austin, TX

    09/2024 - Postdoctoral Rising Stars Symposium, “Intracellular Lipid Transport: Metabolic Checkpoints in Immunity and Physiology”, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

    10/2023 - Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Fellow’s Symposium, “Non-vesicular cholesterol transport links immunoregulation to metabolism”, Southbridge, MA

    06/2023 - ImmunologyLA annual meeting, “Lymphocyte sterol transport regulates intestinal physiology and metabolism”, Los Angeles, CA

    02/2019 - Keystone Symposia on Myeloid Cells, “Enteropathogenic bacteria induced unfolded protein response in dendritic cells is critical for effective Th17 differentiation”, Santa Fe, NM

    05/2018 - North Texas Immunology Symposium, “Transcriptome profiling of pathogen-specific CD4 T cells identifies T cell-intrinsic caspase-1 as an important regulator of Th17 differentiation”, Fort Worth, TX.

    05/2018 - The American Association of Immunologists Annual Meeting, “Transcriptional profiling of pathogen-specific CD4 T cells reveals key events that regulate Th17 cell priming and differentiation”, Austin, TX

    04/2018 - CSHL Meetings: Gene expression and Signaling in the Immune System, “Transcriptome profiling of pathogen-specific CD4 T cells identifies T cell-intrinsic caspase-1 as an important regulator of Th17 differentiation”, Cold Spring Harbor, NY

  • 01/2025 - ASBMB Deuel Conference on Lipids, Long Beach, CA

    08/2024 - Kern Lipid Conference, “T cell cholesterol transport is a metabolic checkpoint that links intestinal immune responses to dietary lipid absorption”, Snowmass, CO

    01/2017 - Midwinter Conference for Immunologists, “Discover T cell fate in a dish: Generation and profiling of pathogen-specific CD4 T cells”, Asilomar, CA

    05/2015 - The Annual Meeting of The American Association of Immunologists, “Temporal transcription analysis of innate immune response to respiratory syncytial virus infection”, New Orleans, LA

  • Visit Publications page.

  • Laboratory Supervisor (2021 - )

    University of California Los Angeles, Tontonoz Lab

    Trained clinical fellows, technicians, and rotation students; served as long-term supervisor of an undergraduate researcher. 

    CIMER Research Mentorship Training Certificate (2023)

    University of California Los Angeles

    Teaching Assistant (2018 – 2019)

    Immunology PhD Program, UT Southwestern

    Fundamentals of Immunology (Fall 2018)

    Emerging Concepts in Immunology (Spring 2019)

    Lecturer (2018)

    Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UT Southwestern

    Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Immunology Course

    Teaching Assistant (2018)

    UT Southwestern Medical School

    Advanced Topics in Immunology (Spring 2018)

    Laboratory Mentor (2014-2017)

    UT Southwestern, Pasare Lab

    Mentored one postdoctoral fellow, two rotation graduate student

  • Scientific Society Membership

    American Gastroenterological Association (2024 -), The American Association of Immunologists (2015 - 2019, 2024 -), ASBMB (2025 - )

    Ad hoc Journal Reviewer

    STAR Protocols; Molecular and Cellular Biology; Pharmacological Reports; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

    Others

    2019 - Organizer, student-invited seminar for Excellence in Immunology Lecture Series, UT Southwestern