Dr. Gao received his B.S. in 2007 from the School of Life Science at Shandong University. He went on to pursue graduate studies at Tsinghua University, where he focused on the molecular mechanism of membrane protein transport substrate in the acid-resistant system of intestinal pathogenic microorganisms, working under the guidance of Prof. Yigong Shi.

To further his research on the interaction between intestinal pathogens and their hosts, Dr. Gao pursued postdoctoral studies with Prof. Jorge Galan at Yale University from 2012 to 2017. During this time, he focused on the scientific issue of “pathogenic microbiota pathogenesis” using Salmonella as research subjects. Dr. Gao elucidated the molecular mechanisms and biological significance of intestinal pathogenic microbes co-evolving with the host to adapt to the host environment and Salmonella Typhi-induced typhoid fever. His findings represent a significant breakthrough and provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the animal model of human Salmonella Typhi.

In 2017, he joined the faculty at Shandong University. He is a Professor and an Excellent Young Scholar (NSFC) in the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology. Here, his research will focus on the inter-kingdom communications between microbiota, pathogens, and hosts inside the human gut. 

As corresponding author or first author/co-first author, Dr. Gao has authored 15 papers, which include 1 Science (2009), 2 Nature (2010, 2013), 1 Cell (2014), 1 Cell Host & Microbe (2016), 2 Nature Microbiology (2017, 2021), and a paper in Nature Communications (2023), as well as a review paper co-authored with Prof. Jorge Galan. His work has been cited over 1000 times. 

Dr. Gao has also received several prestigious awards and fellowships throughout his early career, including the Wu Rui Award in 2011, the James Hudson Brown - Alexander B. Coxef Fellowship at Yale University in 2014, and being named a Blavatnik Regional Award Finalist in 2015.

Since July 2017, Dr. Gao has been conducting research at the State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology in Shandong University, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of interactions between gut bacteria and their hosts, with the goal of discovering novel strategies for regulating intestinal homeostasis based on his discoveries.

State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology,

Microbiology and Biotechnology Institute,

School of Life Science

Shandong University

Qingdao, China

Email:  xgao@sdu.edu.cn