Jinming Gao, Ph.D. Professor Endowed Title Elaine Dewey Sammons Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research, in Honor of Eugene P. Frenkel, M.D. School Medical School Department Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center | Biomedical Engineering | Cell Biology | Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery | Pharmacology Graduate Programs Biomedical Engineering, Cancer Biology Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Dr. Jinming Gao is a distinguished researcher and professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he focuses on the intersection of nanotechnology and cancer research. With a strong academic background in chemistry and biomedical engineering, Dr. Gao leads a research group that aims to develop innovative nanotechnology platforms to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment. One notable achievement of the Gao Group is the development of proton transistor nanoparticles, such as Pegsitacianine, which can digitize tumor acidotic signals stemming from dysregulated cancer cell metabolism. This nanosensor has received Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the Food and Drug Administration and has shown promising results in Phase 2 clinical trials for identifying unresected residual diseases in cancer patients. In cancer therapy, Dr. Gao's lab has discovered synthetic polymers that can non-canonically activate the STING pathway, leading to improved tumor and cell selectivity and enhanced antitumor immunity. A nanoparticle STING agonist from this research has entered its first-in-human trial in 2023. Currently, the Gao Group is focusing on using proton transistor nanoparticles to study tumor acidotic biology and immune evasion, as well as developing nano-immune-engineering strategies to activate innate and adaptive immunity for safe and effective cancer immunotherapy. Education Undergraduate Peking University , Chemistry Graduate School Harvard University (1996) Research Interest Acidotic transistor medicine (ATOM) Molecular cooperativity in nanomedicine design Nano-immune-engineering STING immunity Publications Featured Publications Severely polarized extracellular acidity around tumor cells Feng Q, Bennett Z, Grichuk A, Huang T, Faubert B, Huang G, Chen M, DeBerardinis RJ, Sumer BD, Gao J. Nature Biomed. Eng. 2024 Doi.org/10.1038/s41551-024-01178-7 STING Licensing of Type I Dendritic Cells Potentiates Antitumor Immunity Wang J, Li S, Wang M, Wang X, Chen SQ, Sun ZC, Ren XB, Huang G, Sumer BD, Yan N, Fu YX, Gao J. Science Immunol. 2024 9 3945 Polyvalent design in the cGAS-STING pathway Bennett ZT, Li S, Sumer BD, Gao J. Semin. Immunol. 2022 doi.org/10.1016/j.smim.2021.101580 Lactate increases stemness of CD8+ T cells to augment anti-tumor immunity Feng Q, Liu Z, Yu X, Huang T, Chen J, Wang J, Wilhelm J, Li S, Song J, Li W, Sun Z, Sumer BD, Li B, Fu YX, and Gao J. Nature Comm. 2022 13 4981 Prolonged activation of innate immune pathways by a polyvalent STING agonist Li S, Luo M, Wang ZH, Feng Q, Wilhelm J, Wang X, Li W, Wang J, Cholka A, Fu YX, Sumer BD, Yu HT, Gao J. Nature BME 2021 5 455-466 Polycarbonate-based ultra-pH sensitive nanoparticles improve therapeutic window Wang X, Wilhelm J, Li W, Li S, Wang ZH, Huang G, Wang J, Tang H, Khorsandi S, Sun Z, Evers B, Gao J. Nature Comm. 2020 11 5828 PET Imaging of Occult Tumors by Temporal Integration of Tumor-Acidosis Signals Huang G, Zhao T, Wang C, Nham K, Xiong Y, Gao X, Wang Y, Hao G, Ge WP, Sun X, Sumer BD, Gao J. Nature BME 2020 4 314 Exploiting metabolic acidosis in solid cancers using a tumor-agnostic pH-activatable nanoprobe for fluorescence-guided surgery Voskuil FJ, Steinkamp PJ, Zhao T, van der Vegt B, Koller M, Doff JJ, Jayalakshmi Y, Hartung JP, Gao J, Sumer BD, Witjes MJH, van Dam GM. Nature Comm. 2020 11 3257 Transistor-like Ultra-pH-Sensitive Polymeric Nanoparticles Feng Q, Wilhelm J, Gao J. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019 52 1485-1495 Cooperativity Principles in Self-Assembled Nanomedicine Li Y, Wang Y, Huang G, Gao J. Chem. Rev. 2018 118 5359-5391 Results 1-10 of 17 1 2 Next Last Honors & Awards Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) (2024) Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI) (2023) Immuno-engineering to Improve Immunotherapy (I3) Center Award, Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative, National Cancer Institute (2019)