Glial Cell Engineering in Neural Regeneration

Dr. Li Yao: After completing his BachelorDegree of Clinical Medicine in Beijing Capital Medical University, Dr. Yao was appointed as a resident doctor of surgery at the Beijing Chao Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University Hospital. After 3-year clinical working, he pursued a Masters ofOrthopaedic Surgery at Beijing JiShuiTan Hospital, Peking University Medical Center. After graduation, he continued to work in that hospital and was appointed as an attending doctor in orthopaedic surgery. In 2001, Dr. Yao went to United Kingdomfor the PhD study in Biomedical Science at the University of Aberdeen. He pursued his postdoctoral research at the National University of Ireland, Galway and the Mayo Clinic, Rochester. He started a tenure-track assistant professor position in Department of Biological Sciences, Wichita State University, United Statesfrom 2011. He was appointed as a tenured associated professor from 2017. His research interest is regenerative medicine and neural tissue engineering with a focus on electric fields-guided neural cell migration, and spinal cord and peripheral nerve repair and regeneration. He investigates neural regeneration using biomaterial scaffolds, cell and molecular therapy and electrical stimulation.

Advances in the research of astrocyte function in neural regeneration.- Enhancement of axonal myelination in wounded spinal cord using oligodendrocyte precursor cell transplantation.- Application of Schwann cells in neural tissue engineering.- Stem cell- and biomaterial-based neural repair for enhancing spinal axonal regeneration.- Electric field-guided cell migration, polarization, and division: An emerging therapy in neural regeneration.- Vascularization in the spinal cord: the pathological process and therapeutic approach.- Index.