Dr Yingnan Gao
Grant-Funded Researcher (B)
SAIGENCI
College of Health
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.
I completed my Ph.D. degree with a specialisation in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I studied the macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns in prokaryotes under the scope of pulsed evolution and the Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology.
My postdoctoral research at University of Washington focused on developing downstream phylogenetic analysis tools for tumour lineage tracing data.
For my research at SAiGENCI, Adelaide University, I leverage methods and techniques from ecology and evolutionary biology (e.g., phylogenetics) to investigate tumour progression and the tumour immunolgical microenvironment using single-cell sequencing data.
Tumour cells emerge from normal body cells and interact with their surrounding environments, much like how living organisms evolve and interact with the ecosystem. By borrowing methods and techniques from existing ecological and evolutionary research and incorporating them with single-cell sequencing data, I aim to examine how tumour development progresses with genomic and expressional changes in tumour cells, and how it reshapes the cell-cell interaction dynamics. Deeper knowledge in these aspects may promote new insights on tumour therapies, preventive care strategies, and diagnostic tools.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Postdoctoral Researcher | SAiGENCI |
| 2022 - 2025 | Postdoctoral Researcher | University of Washington |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| Chinese (Mandarin) | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| English | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 - 2022 | University of Virginia | United States | Ph.D. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Gao, Y., Abdullah, A., & Wu, M. (2025). The powerbend distribution provides a unified model for the species abundance distribution across animals, plants and microbes. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 16(1), 9 pages. Scopus1 WoS1 Europe PMC2 |
| 2023 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2023). Accounting for 16S rRNA copy number prediction uncertainty and its implications in bacterial diversity analyses. ISME COMMUNICATIONS, 3(1), 9 pages. Scopus29 WoS29 Europe PMC26 |
| 2022 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2022). Modeling Pulsed Evolution and Time-Independent Variation Improves the Confidence Level of Ancestral and Hidden State Predictions.. Systematic biology, 71(5), 1225-1232. Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC4 |
| 2022 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2022). Microbial genomic trait evolution is dominated by frequent and rare pulsed evolution. SCIENCE ADVANCES, 8(28), 10 pages. Scopus6 WoS10 Europe PMC10 |
| 2021 | Murray, C. S., Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2021). Re-evaluating the evidence for a universal genetic boundary among microbial species.. Nature communications, 12(1), 4059. Scopus46 WoS42 Europe PMC46 |
| 2020 | Grippo, R. M., Tang, Q., Zhang, Q., Chadwick, S. R., Gao, Y., Altherr, E. B., . . . Güler, A. D. (2020). Dopamine Signaling in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Enables Weight Gain Associated with Hedonic Feeding. Current Biology, 30(2), 196-208.e8. Scopus36 WoS33 Europe PMC32 |
| 2020 | Grippo, R. M., Tang, Q., Zhang, Q., Chadwick, S. R., Gao, Y., Altherr, E. B., . . . Güler, A. D. (2020). Erratum: Dopamine Signaling in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Enables Weight Gain Associated with Hedonic Feeding (Current Biology (2020) 30(2) (196–208.e8), (S096098221931468X), (10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.029)). Current Biology, 30(7), 1352-1355. Scopus4 Europe PMC3 |
| 2018 | Shin, J. H., Gao, Y., Moore, J. H., Bolick, D. T., Kolling, G. L., Wu, M., & Warren, C. A. (2018). Innate Immune Response and Outcome of Clostridium difficile Infection Are Dependent on Fecal Bacterial Composition in the Aged Host. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 217(2), 188-197. Scopus29 WoS29 Europe PMC29 |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Mengyuan, S., Yingnan, G., Ning, L., Dharmesh, B., Michael, M., Juan, H., . . . Stefano, M. (2026). cellNexus: Quality control, annotation, aggregation and analytical layers for the Human Cell Atlas data. DOI |
| 2025 | Gao, Y., & Feder, A. F. (2025). Detecting branching rate heterogeneity with tree balance statistics in lineage tracing trees.. DOI |
| 2024 | Gao, Y., Abdullah, A., & Wu, M. (2024). A unifying model of species abundance distribution. DOI |
| 2021 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2021). Microbial genomic trait evolution is dominated by frequent and rare pulsed evolution. DOI |
| 2021 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2021). Modeling pulsed evolution and time-independent variation improves the confidence level of ancestral and hidden state predictions in continuous traits. DOI Europe PMC1 |
| 2021 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2021). Accounting for 16S rRNA copy number prediction uncertainty and its implications in bacterial diversity analyses. DOI |
| 2020 | Murray, C., Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2020). There is no evidence of a universal genetic boundary among microbial species. DOI |
| 2018 | Gao, Y., & Wu, M. (2018). Free-living Bacterial Communities Are Mostly Dominated by Oligotrophs. DOI Europe PMC2 |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Co-Supervisor | Identifying Precision Immune Markers for Metastatic Breast Cancer Progression via Systemic Profiling, Demographics, and AI | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Upasana Maity |
Connect With Me
External Profiles
