Assistant Development

(Hua Gao)

Curriculum Vitae

Hua Gao

**** ***** ***** ****. ***.120A, Dallas, TX 75390-9039

E-MAIL ***.***@**************.*** 469-***-****

QUALIFICATION AND SKILLS

Experienced Leader and Collaborator: Managed day-to-day task of a team comprised of a

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technician, a graduate student, and high throughput screen facility staffs to accomplish a targeted

siRNA screen in over 50 NSCLC cell lines. Followed by the collaboration of bioinformaticians in

extracting and developing testable hypothesis from available genome-wide expression profiling,

mutational data, and proteomics data sets.

High level of Initiative and Independence: Conceptualized, implemented, and completed a project

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engineering the CRISPR/CAS9 gene editing system for specific application to address tumor specific

ubiquitin ligase/deubiquitinase dependencies.

Extensive Background in Cancer Biology Research: Over a decade of dedicated training and

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refinement of wet lab techniques in molecular biology, cell based assay development, high throughput

assay development, assay optimization, quantification, and validation. Intensive commitment to

collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting scientific data.

Excellent organizational and planning abilities: Play an active role in the day-to-day operations

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within the laboratory through the creation and continued expansion of cell line and antibody

centralized database increasing overall lab productivity and reducing waste. Organized several lab

social events improving work environment and fostering collaboration and community sprite.

Laboratory Skills

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DNA techniques: DNA purification Recombinant DNA techniques, PCR (general PCR, site-directed

PCR mutagenesis, real-time PCR ...etc.), Electrophoresis…etc.

Protein techniques: Protein engineering, Protein expression and purification, in vitro protein

transcription-translation, immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, ELISA, kinase assay, protein-protein

interaction (co-immunoprecipitation, yeast two-hybrid, in vitro protein binding), Protein-DNA

interaction (Electrophoresis Mobility Shift Assay, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation), SDS-PAGE …etc.

RNA techniques: RNA extraction, Northern blotting…etc.

Cell biology techniques: General tissue culture procedures, Transfection, Lentivirus/retrovirus

transduction, Fluorescence microscopy, FACS analysis, RNAi, miRNA techniques, Cell

proliferation/viability assay

Yeast molecular genetics: Genomic knock-out/knock-in/tagging, Genetic screens (yeast two-hybrid

screen, high-copy suppressor screen, dominant negative mutation screen…etc), General yeast

techniques…etc.

Genome editing: CRISPR/CAS9 system

High-throughput techniques: Extensive experience with microarray based methods and various

high-throughput systems/appliances, including Beckman BioMek Workstation, BMG PHERAstar HTS

microplate reader, BD Pathway high-content bioimager, various multi-channel liquid dispensers.

Excellence in optimizing high-throughput screen conditions, protocol development and execution.

Mass Spectrometry: Good knowledge of Mass Spectrometry and have applied the technique in

projects

Next-generation Sequencing: In-depth knowledge of Next-gen sequencing and have applied the

technique in projects.

Software Applications µManager Axiovision ImageJ GraphPad Prism (Statistics) Ingenuity

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IPA Cytoscape Adobe Photoshop Microsoft Office

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(Hua Gao)

Curriculum Vitae

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Cancer biology, Molecular oncology, Human genomics, Molecular diagnostics, Clinical & translational

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research, Cancer drug / drug target screening, Cell culture

EXPERIENCE

2012 – present UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Instructor

- Development and implementation of a Next-Generation sequencing-based method to

examine the role of a lung cancer therapeutic target, LCTT5, in tumor development

- Development and implementation of a genome editing and mass spectrometry-based

system to assess the downstream pathway components of LCTT5 for cancer drug

discovery

Supervisor: Michael A. White, Ph.D.

2008 – 2012 UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Postdoctoral Researcher

- Development and implementation of a high throughput RNAi-based single-gene lethality

screening protocol to specify authentic drug target opportunities for tailored lung cancer

therapy directed by biomarkers

- Identification of biomarkers associated with LCTT5 dependency of lung cancer cell

lines.

Advisor: Michael A. White, Ph.D.

2002 – 2008 Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX (2002-2004)

Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, CA (2004-2008)

Graduate Student

- Experimental design and implementation for functional study of Cdc13/Stn1/Ten1

protein complex on yeast telomere:

- Analysis of the Cdc13 telomerase recruitment (RD) domain:

Advisor: Vicki Lundblad, Ph.D.

1999 – 2002 Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Research Assistant

Cloning and characterization of the promoter of the Phytochelatin Synthase (PCS) gene,

which is involved in heavy metal detoxification in Indian Mustard.

1998 - 1999 Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

Undergraduate Student

Establishment of a diagnostic technique to identify fish disease pathogens by combined

analysis of universal-primer-PCR-mediated single-strand conformation polymorphism

(SSCP) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of their 16s rRNA genes.

PRESENTATIONS

2011 CPRIT Innovations in Cancer Prevention and Research Conference (Poster Presentation)

2007 Mechanism and Models of Cancer Meeting at Salk (participation)

2007 Meeting on Telomere & Telomerase at Cold Spring Harbor (Talk: A telomere-specific RPA complex

mediates yeast telomere function.)

2007 Cell Cycle Meeting at Salk (participation)

2007 Symposium on Biology Complexity – Diseases of Transcription (participation)

2006 DNA Replication and Genome Integrity Meeting at Salk (poster)

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2006 The 2 Annual La Jolla Cell Signaling Symposia at University of California, San Diego, cancer

center (participation)

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(Hua Gao)

Curriculum Vitae

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1999 – 2002 Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Teaching Assistant

-Basic Molecular Biology Techniques

-Introduction to Modern Biochemical Laboratory Techniques

EDUCATION

2002 – 2008 Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX

Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

GRE score: Math 800/800, Logic 800/800, Reading 650/800,

1995 – 1999 Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

B.S. degree in Biochemistry

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

2009-present Full member, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society

2010-present Peer Reviewer for PLoS One and Life Sciences

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2009 Career Development Award, University of Texas SPORE (Specialized Programs of

Research Excellence) in Lung Cancer, NIH/NCI (Role: Investigator)

1999 Outstanding Graduate award, Xiamen University

1997 DuPont Fellowship

1997/1996 Outstanding Student Award, Xiamen University

First Class Student Fellowship, Xiamen University

PUBLICATIONS

1. Benjamin B Shields, Chad V Pecot, Hua GAO, Malia Potts, Christa Nagel, Scott Purinton, Ying Wang,

Cristina Ivan, Hyunseok Kim, Rob Borkowski, Shaheen Kahn, Cristian Rodriguez-Aguayo, Gabriel Lopez-

Berestein, Jayantha Lea, Adi Gazdar, Keith A Baggerly, Anil K Sood, Michael A White. microRNA

Induction of Fatal Differentiation Programs is a Common Vulnerability in Ovarian Cancer. Cancer

Discovery, in review.

2. Hua GAO, Tasha B TORO, Margherita PASCHINI, Bari BRAUNSTEIN-BALLEW, Rachel B

CERVANTES and Victoria LUNDBLAD. Telomerase recruitment in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is not

dependent on Tel1-mediated phosphorylation of Cdc13. Genetics, 2010, 186(4): 1147-1159.

3. Hua GAO, Rachel B CERVANTES, Edward K MANDELL, Joel H OTERO, Victoria LUNDBLAD. RPA-

like proteins mediate yeast telomere function. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2007, 14(3): 208-

214.

The paper was highlighted in the 2007 March issue of the same journal.

Comment in: Haring SJ, Wold MS. A common means to an end. Nature Structural &

Molecular Biology, 2007, 14(3): 176-177.

4. Yuxiu ZHANG; Yanhong ZHANG; Hua GAO; Tuanyao CHAI. Gene expression analysis of ubiquitin

from bean under biotic and abiotic stress. Acta Botanica Boreali-Occidentalia Sinica, 2002, 22(3): 505-

510.

5. Hua GAO, Yuxiu ZHANG, Tuanyao CHAI. Research advances in Phytochelatins and Phytochelatin

sythase. Acta Botanica Boreali-Occidentalia Sinica, 2001, 21(4): 779-790.

6. Xuanxian PENG, Hua GAO, Sanying WANG, Wenzhu ZHENG. Universal primer PCR with SSCP and

RFLP for identification of fish disease pathogens. Journal of Fisheries of China, 2000, 24(4): 343-348.

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(Hua Gao)

Curriculum Vitae

PERSONAL INTERESTS

Travel, movies and spending time with families

IMMIGRATION STATUS

Permanent resident (green card; Can work for any US employer without visa sponsorship)

LOCATION PREFERENCE

Willing to relocate

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