Positions and previous important positions:

Rao Yi is currently the President of Capital Medical University, Chair Professor of Peking University, Founding Director of the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, Founding Director of Peking University McGovern Brain Institute, Founding Director of Peking University-Tsinghua University Joint Center for Life Science, Deputy Director of the Peking University School Administration Committee. He was the former Director of the Department of Sciences of Peking University, and the Dean of Peking University School of Life Sciences.

He has participated in the reform and construction of many scientific and educational institutions in China. He is one of the co-sponsors of West Lake University and the former director of its Institute of Basic Medicine. He assisted the Chinese Academy of Sciences in establishing the Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai (1999), co-founded the Shanghai Interdisciplinary Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2002), and participated in the establishment of the Beijing Institute of Life Sciences (2004). He is one of the founding scientists of China's "Future Science Prize" (2016) and a co-sponsor of the "Science Discovery Award" (2018). He is also a member of the Medical Board of the Canadian Gairdner International Medical Awards since 2018. From 1994 to 2007, he taught at Washington University in St. Louis and at The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago.

Research fields:

Investigate the molecular mechanisms of behavior and cognition. Propose the concept of chemoconnectome (CCT) (covering all neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, neuropeptides and their receptors in the same animal). Invent the channels of chemoconnectomics, prepare the necessary genetic tools, study the functional role of genes and cells in CCT, manipulate chemical transmission, and reveal neural circuits. In humans, genetics, genomics and functional MRI are used to study genes and brain regions that are important for cognition. Research subjects include fruit flies, frogs, mice, rats, monkeys, and humans to understand the basic principles that are prevalent in animals and unique to humans.

Representative works:

1. Yi Rao, The First Hormone: Adrenaline. Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2019, 30(6):331-334

2. Xihuimin Dai, Enxing Zhou, Wei Yang, Xiaohui Zhang, Wenxia Zhang, and Yi Rao.D-Serine Made by Serine Racemase in Drosophila Intestine Plays a Physiological Role in Sleep, Nature Communications, 2019, 10:1986

3. Deng Bowen, Qi Li, Xinxing Liu,Yue Cao, Bingfeng Li, Yongjun Qian,Rui Xu, Renbo Mao, Enxing Zhou, Wenxia Zhang,Juan Huang, and Yi Rao, Chemoconnectomics: Mapping Chemical Transmission inDrosophila, Neuron,2019,101(1):876-893

4. Biqing Chen, Zijian Zhu, Ren Na, Wan Fang, Wenxia Zhang, Qin Zhou, Shanbi Zhou, Han Lei, Ailong Huang, Tingmei Chen, Dongsheng Ni, Yuping Gu, Jianning Liu, Fang Fang, and Yi Rao. Genomic analyses of visual cognition: perceptual rivalry and top-down control. Journal of Neuroscience ,2018,38(45): 9668-9678

5. Zhang SS, Liu Y, Rao Y, Serotonin signaling in the brain of adult female mice is required for sexual preference, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2013, 110: 9968-9973

6. Liu WW, Liang XH, Li YN, Gong JX, Yang Z, Zhang YH, Zhang JX and Rao Y, Social regulation of aggression mediated by pheromonal activation of Or65a olfactory receptor neurons in Drosophila, Nature Neurosci, 2011, 7:896-902

7. Liu Y, Jiang Y, Si Y, Kim J-Y, Chen Z-F, and Rao Y, Molecular regulation of sexual preference revealed by genetic studies of 5-HT in the brain of male mice, Nature, 2011, 472:95-99

8. Zhou C, Rao Y, and Rao Yi, A subset of octopaminergic neurons are important for Drosophila aggression, Nature Neurosci, 2008, 11:1059-1061

9. Li X, Gao X, Liu G, Xiong W, Wu J, Rao Y, Netrin signal transduction and the guanine nucleotide exchange factor DOCK180 in attractive signaling, Nature Neurosci, 2008, 11:28-35

10. Jiang H, Guo W, Liang XH, and Rao Y, Both the establishment and the maintenance of neuronal polarity require active mechanisms: critical roles of GSK-3b and its upstream regulators, Cell, 2005, 120: 123-135

11. Ward ME, Wu JY and Rao Y, Visualization of spatially and temporally regulated N-WASP activity during cytoskeletal reorganization in living cells, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2004, 101:970-974

12. Liu G, Beggs H, Jürgensen C, Park HT, Tang H, Gorski J, Jones KR, Reichardt LF, Wu JY, and Rao Y, Netrin requires the focal adhesion kinase and the Src family kinases to induce axon outgrowth and to attract axons, Nature Neurosci, 2004 , 7: 1222-1232

13. Zhu Y, Yu T, Zhang X-C, Nagasawa T, Wu JY, and Rao Y, Role of the chemokine SDF-1 as the meningeal attractant for embryonic cerebellar neurons, Nat Neurosci, 2002, 5: 719-720

14. Wong K, Ren X-R, Huang Y-Z, Xie Y, Liu G, Saito H, Tang H, Wen L, Brady-Kalnay SM, Mei L, Wu JY, Xiong W-C, and Rao Y, Signal Transduction in Neuronal Migration: Roles of GTPase Activating Proteins and the Small GTPase Cdc42 in the Slit-Robo Pathway, Cell, 2001, 107: 209-221

15. Wu JY, Feng L, Park H-T, Havlioglu N, Wen L, Tang H, Bacon KB, Jiang Z, Zhang X-C, and Rao Y, Slit, a molecule known to guide axon projection and neuronal migration, inhibits leukocyte chemotaxis induced by chemotactic factors, Nature, 2001, 410: 948-952

16. Wu W, Wong K, Chen JH, Jiang ZH, Dupuis S, Wu JY, and Rao Y, Directional guidance of neuronal migration in the olfactory system by the protein Slit, Nature, 1999, 400: 331-336

17. Li HS, Chen JH, Wu W, Fagaly T, Yuan WL, Zhou L, Dupuis S, Jiang Z, Nash W, Gick C, Ornitz D, Wu JY, and Rao Y, Vertebrate Slit, a secreted ligand for the transmembrane protein Roundabout, is a repellent for olfactory bulb axons, Cell, 1999, 96: 807-818

18. Zhu Y, Li HS, Zhou L, Wu JY, and Rao Y, Cellular and molecular guidance of GABAergic neuronal migration from an extra-cortical origin to the neocortex, Neuron, 1999, 23: 473-485

19. Li HS, Tierney C, Wen L, Wu JY and Rao Y, A single morphogenetic field gives rise to two retina primordia under the influence of the prechordal mesoderm, Development, 1997, 124: 603-615

20. Rao Y., Jan L.Y., and Jan Y.N., Similarity of the product of the Drosophila neurogenic gene big brain to transmembrane channel proteins, Nature, 1990, 345: 163-167