About Dr. Gang Bao

Gang Bao is a pioneer in nanomedicine, molecular imaging, and the emerging area of genome editing. The nanoscale structures and devices engineered in his lab have broad-based applications in basic research to understand the underlying causes of disease, as well as in the translation of nano-scale tools for disease diagnostics and treatment, such as targeted drug/gene and cell-based therapies.

A major focus of Bao’s Laboratory of Biomolecular Engineering and Nanomedicine is centered on the development of gene correction techniques to address longstanding challenges in the fight against cancer and single-gene disorders, such as sickle-cell disease. Using DNA-cutting enzyme technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9 systems, Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) and Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs), Bao is developing tools for precise and controlled gene editing.

Bao also develops nanotechnologies for multimodality molecular imaging, the sensitive detection of RNA and proteins, and for targeted drug delivery. Platform technologies include superparamagnetic nanoparticle probes, quantum dot bioconjugates, activatable molecular probes and molecular beacons for cellular and in vivo imaging, with applications in disease detection and mechanistic studies to characterize cellular processes, subcellular components and biological molecules.

Ongoing projects are supported by a $6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), and from grants from the NIH Common Fund, from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and the National Science Foundation.

Research in the Bao lab involves a high level of integration and synergy between physician-scientists and clinicians as well as in the development of programmatic, education and cross training components for a highly specialized workforce in biology, clinical medicine, and the quantitative sciences.