On Jan. 4, 2024, the University of Alabama at Birmingham welcomed Gao Guo, DDS., MSD, Ph.D., as an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery.

Guo earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry at the Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry before joining the UT Southwestern Medical Center Department of Neurology for his second postdoctoral training. 

Guo’s areas of interests include oncogenic kinase signaling, brain tumors, glioblastoma and gliomas, but his research primarily focuses on elucidating the role of receptor tyrosine kinase in tumor cell invasion and survival of patients with glioblastoma. 

He is also interested in exploring the interplay between kinase signaling and extracellular matrix remodeling in glioblastoma. Guo uses advanced molecular techniques to characterize signaling pathways in both preclinical mouse models and human glioma tissue.  He is committed to applying his research findings to develop novel therapeutic strategies that may be useful in the treatment of brain tumors.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Guo to our team,” says James Garber Galbraith Endowed Chair of Neurosurgery and Department of Neurosurgery Professor James Markert, M.D., MPH. “Our department has a long legacy of outstanding achievements in neurosurgical research, and I am confident that he will build on that legacy as he works towards a greater understanding of the key signaling pathways and tumor cell invasion and propagation.”