Today is

Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Ph.D.

Medical School

Undergraduate Institution: The University of Texas at Austin

Year: Fourth-Year Medical Student

Graduate Program: Neuroscience

Mentors: Christian Rosenmund, Ph.D., and Huda Zoghbi, M.D.

Thesis Title: Role of Excitation and Inhibition in Rett Syndrome

Publications:

Xue M*, Craig TK*, Xu J, Chao HT, Rizo J, Rosenmund C. Binding of the complexin N terminus to the SNARE complex potentiates synaptic-vesicle fusogenicity. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2010. 17(5):568-75. *Equal contribution.
Chao HT, Zoghbi HY. The yin and yang of MeCP2 phosphorylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009. 106(12):4577-8.
Rose MF*, Ren J*, Ahmad KA*, Chao HT, Klisch TJ, Flora A, Greer JJ, Zoghbi HY. Math1-dependent hindbrain neurons provide vital excitatory drive for respiration. *Equal contribution. Neuron. 2009. 64(3):341-54.
Samaco RC, Mandel-Brehm C, Chao HT, Ward CS, Fyffe-Maricich SL, Ren J, Hyland K, Thaller C, Maricich SM, Humphreys P, Greer JJ, Percy A, Glaze DG, Zoghbi HY, Neul JL. Loss of MeCP2 in aminergic neurons causes cell-autonomous defects in neurotransmitter synthesis and specific behavioral abnormalities. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009. 106(51):21966-71.
Fyffe SL, Neul JL, Samaco RC, Chao HT, Ben-Shachar S, Moretti P, McGill BE, Goulding EH, Sullivan E, Techott LH, Zoghbi HY. Deletion of Mecp2 in Sim1-expressing neurons ereveals a critical role for MeCP2 in feeding behavior, aggression, and the response to stress. Neuron. 2008. 59(6):947-58.
Samaco RC, Fryer JC, Ren J, Fyffe S, Chao HT, Sun Y, Greer JJ, Zoghbi HY, Neul JL. A partical loss of function allele of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 predicts a human neurodevelopmental syndrome. Hum Mol Genet. 2008. 17(12):1718-27.
Chao HT, Zoghbi HY, Rosenmund C. MeCP2 controls excitatory synaptic strength by regulating glutamatergic synapse number. Neuron. 2007. 56(1):58-65.
Xue M, Reim K, Chen X, Chao HT, Deng H, Rizo J, Brose N, and Rosenmund C. Distinct domains of complexin I differentially regulate neurotransmitter release. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2007. 14(10):949-58.