Hsiao-Tuan Chao, M.D., Ph.D.
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Hsiao-Tuan Chao, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Positions
- Assistant Professor
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Department of Pediatrics-Division of Neurology and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Department of Neuroscience
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX, US
- Investigator
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Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, TX, US
- McNair Scholar
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McNair Medical Institute at The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation
Houston, TX
- Associate Program Director, Basic Neuroscience Pathway
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Department of Pediatrics
Child Neurology Residency Training Program
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX, US
Addresses
- Texas Children's Hospital (Hospital)
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Clinical Care Center, Suite 1250
Houston, TX 77030
United States
- Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Office)
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1250 Moursund St
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Education
- Residency at Baylor College of Medicine
- Houston, Texas, United States
- Pediatric Neurology
- Internship at Baylor College of Medicine
- 06/2013 - Houston, Texas, United States
- Pediatrics
- MD from Baylor College of Medicine
- 05/2012 - Houston, Texas, United States
- PhD from Baylor College of Medicine
- 03/2010 - Houston, Texas, United States
- Neuroscience
- BS from University of Texas at Austin
- 05/2002 - Austin, Texas, United States
- Biochemistry, summa cum laude
- BA from University of Texas at Austin
- 05/2002 - Austin, Texas, United States
- Plan II Honors in Liberal Arts, summa cum laude
Honors & Awards
- 2020 Philip R. Dodge Young Investigator Award
- https://www.bcm.edu/news/chao-awarded-philip-r-dodge-young-investigator-award
- Child Neurology Society
- 2019 Health Care Heroes - Rising Star Award
- Houston Business Journal (04/2019)
- 2017 STAT Wunderkind Award
- STAT News (10/2017)
- 2017 CNS Outstanding Junior Member Award
- Child Neurology Society
- 2017 AAN Neurology Research Scholar
- American Academy of Neurology (04/2017)
- 2017 CNCDP-K12 Scholar
- Kennedy Krieger (04/2017)
- 2016 AAN Child Neurology Annual Meeting Scholarship
- AAN Annual Meeting Frontiers in Child Neurology
- American Academy of Neurology (04/2016)
- 2016 AAN Women in Leadership Travel Award Scholarship
- Breakthroughs in Neurology Conference
- American Academy of Neurology (01/2016)
- 2015-2016 Chief Resident
- 2015-2016 Co-Chief Resident with Dr. Kim Houck for Pediatric Neurology Residency Training Program
- BCM Pediatric Neurology Residency
- 2013 Journal of Child Neurology, Residents and Fellows section of the editorial board
- Journal of Child Neurology
- 2011 Top 10 Autism Research Findings of 2010
- Chao et al. Nature, 2010
- Autism Speaks
- Drs. Benjamin and Margarie Mo Scholar
- Chinese American Doctors Association of Houston
- 2009 Deborah K. Martin Achievement Award in Biomedical Sciences
- Baylor College of Medicine
- BRASS Scholar
- Baylor Research Advocates for Student Scientists (08/2004 - 05/2010)
- Robert and Janice McNair Foundation MD/PhD Student Scholar
- Baylor College of Medicine (07/2002 - 05/2012)
- 2010 BCM Alumni Association Outstanding Student Award
- Baylor College of Medicine
- 2010 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Outstanding Community BRASS Scholar
- Baylor Research Advocates for Student Scientists (BRASS)
- 2014 Department of Pediatrics Award for Best Research Poster Presentation
- Baylor College of Medicine
- 2006 Trentin Scholar
- Baylor College of Medicine
Professional Interests
- Pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders
- Integrate mouse and fruit fly models with human genomics
- Inhibitory neurons
- HADD syndrome
- New disease gene discovery
Professional Statement
Neurodevelopmental disorders encompass a broad constellation of conditions including intellectual disability, epilepsy, autism, schizophrenia, and other neuropsychiatric conditions. One emerging theme in the field is that disrupted inhibitory neuronal development and function is found in association with many neurodevelopmental disorders. This would be consistent with the growing body of knowledge that inhibitory neurons are highly diverse and key for virtually all aspects of neurobiology from neural circuit development to modulating neuronal activity to information processing.In the Chao Lab, we integrate cross-species approaches in humans to uncover the genetic etiologies of neurodevelopmental disorders, fruit flies to elucidate the molecular pathways, and mice to explore the cascade of events in the mammalian brain. A wide variety of approaches and techniques are employed in our laboratory including genetically engineered mouse and fruit fly models, structural and functional analyses with electrophysiology, confocal and super-resolution imaging, transcriptomics, molecular and cellular assays, and comprehensive behavioral profiling. Our goal is to determine the role of inhibitory dysfunction in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders by deciphering how genetic alterations perturb inhibition in the brain, impact neural development, and lead to abnormal neurologic output.
Websites
Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's Hospital,
McNair Medical Institute at The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation
Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute
Selected Publications
- Chung HL, Mao X, Wang H, Park YJ, Shu L, Marcogliese PC, Rosenfeld JA, Burrage LC, Liu P, Murdock DR, Yamamoto S, Wangler MF, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Chao HT, Long H, Feng L, Bacino CA, Bellen HJ, Xiao B. "De novo variants in CDK19 are associated with a new syndrome with intellectual disability and epileptic encephalopathy.." AJHG. 2020 April ; : Pubmed PMID: 32330417
- Mao D, Reuter CM, Ruzhnikov MRV, Beck AE, Farrow EG, Emrick LT, Rosenfeld JA, Mackenzie KM, Robak L, Wheeler MT, Burrage LC, Jain M, Liu P, Calame D, Kuery S...Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Lee BH, Thiffault I, Agrawal PB, Bernstein JA, Bellen HJ, Chao HT "De novo EIF2AK1 and EIF2AK2 variants are associated with developmental delay, leukoencephalopathy, and neurologic decompensation." AJHG. 2020 : Pubmed PMID: 32197074
- Che W, Cai ZL, Chao ES, Chen H, Longley CM, Hao S, Chao HT, Kim JH, Messier JE, Zoghbi HY, Tang J, Swann JW, Xue M "Stxbp1/Munc18-1 haploinsufficiency impairs inhibition and mediates key neurological features of STXBP1 encephalopathy." eLife. 2020 February ; : Pubmed PMID: 32073399
- Harnish JM, Deal SL, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Chao HT, Wangler MF, Yamamoto S "In vivo functional study of disease-associated rare human variants using Drosophila." J. Vis. Exp.. 2019 :
- Blackburn ATM, Bekheirnia N, Uma VC, Corkins ME, Xu Y, Rosenfeld JA, Bainbridge MN, Yang Y, Liu P.......Chao HT, Mirzaa GM, Scheuerle AE, Kukolich MK, Scaglia F, Eng C, Willsey HR, Braun MC, Lamb DJ, Miller RK, Bekheirnia MR "DYRK1A-related intellectual disability: a syndrome associated with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract.." Genet Med. 2019 July 2; : Pubmed PMID: 31263215
- Handoko M, Emrick LT, Rosenfeld JA, Wang X, Tran AA, Turner A, Belmont JW, Lee B, Bacino CA, Chao HT "Recurrent mosaic MTOR c.5930C>T (p.Thr1977Ile) variant causing megalencephaly, asymmetric polymicrogyria, and cutaneous pigmentary mosaicism: Case report and review of the literature." Am J Med Genet A. 2018 December 18; : Pubmed PMID: 30569621
- Leduc MS, Chao HT, Qu C, Walkiewicz M, Xiao R, Magoulas P, Pan S, Beuten J, He W, Bernstein JA, Schaaf CP, Scaglia F, Eng CM, Yang Y "Clinical and molecular characterization of de novo loss of function variants in HNRNPU." Am J Med Genet A. 2017 : Pubmed PMID: 28815871
- Wangler MF, Yamamoto S, Chao HT, Posey JE, Westerfield M, Postlethwait J, Members of the UDN, Hieter P, Boycott KM, Campeau PM, Bellen HJ "Model Organisms Facilitate Rare Disease Diagnosis and Therapeutic Research." Genetics. 2017 September ; : Pubmed PMID: 28874452
- Gambin T, Yuan B, Bi W, Liu P, Rosenfeld JA, Coban-Akdemir Z, Pursley AN, Nagamani SCS, Marom R, Golla S, Dengle L, Petrie HG, Matalon R, Emrick L, Proud MB, Treadwell-Deering D, Chao HT......Smith JL, Cheung SW, Lupski JR, Patel A, Shaw CA, Stankiewicz P "Identification of novel candidate disease genes from de novo exonic copy number variants.." Genome Med. 2017 September 21; : Pubmed PMID: 28934986
- Chao HT, Liu L, Bellen HJ "Building dialogues between clinical and biomedical research through cross-species collaborations." Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2017 May 22; : Pubmed PMID: 28579453
- Wang J*, Al-Ouran R*, Hu Y*, Kim SY*, Wan YW, Wangler MF, Yamamoto S, Chao HT, Comjean A, Mohr SE, Members of the UDN, Perrimon N, Liu Z, Bellen HJ "MARRVEL: Integration of human and model organism genetic resources to facilitate functional annotation of the human genome." American Journal of Human Genetics. 2017 May 11; : Pubmed PMID: 28502612
- Chao HT, Davids M, Burke E, Pappas JG, Rosenfeld JA, McCarty AJ, Davis T, Wolfe L, Toro C, Tifft C, Xia F, Stong N, Johnson TK, Warr CG, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Yamamoto S, Adams DR, Markello TC, Gahl WA, Bellen HJ, Wangler MF, Malicdan MCV "A syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder caused by de novo variants in EBF3." American Journal of Human Genetics. 2016 December 22; : Pubmed PMID: 28017372
- Chang CL, Trimbuch T, Chao HT, Jordan JC, Herman M, Rosenmund C. "Investigation of synapse formation and function in a Glutamatergic-GABAergic two-neuron microcircuit." Journal of Neuroscience. 2014 January ; : Pubmed PMID: 24431444
- Jiang M, Ash RT, Baker SA, Suter B, Ferguson A, Park J, Rudy J, Torsky SP, Chao HT, Zoghbi HY, Smirnakis SM. "Dendritic arborization and spine dynamics are abnormal in the mouse model of MECP2 duplication syndrome.." Journal of Neuroscience. 2013 December ; : Pubmed PMID: 24336718
- Chao HT and Zoghbi HY. "MeCP2: only 100% will do." Nature Neuroscience. 2012 January ; : Pubmed PMID: 22281712
- Wagnon JL, Mahaffey CL, Sun W, Yang Y, Chao HT, Frankel WN. "Etiology of a genetically complex seizure disorder in Celf4 mutant mice.." Genes Brain Behav. 2011 July ; : Pubmed PMID: 21745337
- Chao HT, Chen H, Samaco RC, Xue M, Chahrour M, Yoo J, Neul JL, Gong S, Heintz N, Ekker M, Rubenstein J, Noebels JL, Rosenmund C, Zoghbi HY. "Dysfunction in GABA signalling mediates autism-like stereotypies and Rett syndrome phenotypes." Nature. 2010 November ; : Pubmed PMID: 21068835
- 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 May ; : Pubmed PMID: 20400951
- Samaco RC, Mandel-Brehm C, Chao HT, Fyffe SL, Sun Y, Ren J, Hyland K, Maricich SM, Deneris ES, Greer JJ, Humphreys P, Percy A, Glaze DG, Thaller C, 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.. 2009 December ; : Pubmed PMID: 20007372
- Rose MF*, Ren J*, Ahmad KA*, Chao HT, Klisch TJ, Flora A, Greer JJ, Zoghbi HY. "Math1 is essential for the development of hindbrain neurons critical for perinatal breathing.." Neuron. 2009 November ; : Pubmed PMID: 19914183
- Chao HT, Zoghbi HY. "The yin and yang of MeCP2 phosphorylation.." Proc Natl Acad Sci.. 2009 March ; : Pubmed PMID: 19293386
- Fyffe SL, Neul JL, Samaco RC, Chao HT, Ben-Shachar S, Moretti P, McGill BE, Goudling EH, Sullivan E, Tecott LH, Zoghbi HY. "Deletion of Mecp2 in Sim1-expressing neurons reveals a critical role for MeCP2 in feeding behavior, anxiety, and aggression.." Neuron. 2008 September ; : Pubmed PMID: 18817733
- Samaco RC, Fryer JD, Ren J, Fyffe S, Chao HT, Sun Y, Greer JJ, Zoghbi HY, Neul JL. "A partial loss of function allele of methyl- CpG-binding protein 2 predicts a human neurodevelopmental syndrome.." Hum Mol Genet.. 2008 June ; : Pubmed PMID: 18321864
- Chao HT, Zoghbi HY, Rosenmund C. "MeCP2 controls synaptic strength in glutamatergic neurons by regulating synapse number.." Neuron. 2007 October ; : Pubmed PMID: 17920015
- Xue M, Reim K, Chen X, Chao HT, Deng H, Rizo J, Brose N, Rosenmund C. "Distinct domains of Complexin I differentially regulate neurotransmitter release.." Nat Struct Mol Biol.. 2007 October ; : Pubmed PMID: 17828276
Funding
- McNair Scholar Award Unrestricted funding from McNair Medical Institute at The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation
- DP5 Early Independence Award - #1DP5OD026428-01 (09/17/2018 Grant funding from National Institutes of Health
- NIH Director's High Risk High Reward Awards Program
- Career Award for Medical Scientists (01/01/2019 Grant funding from Burroughs Wellcome Fund
- Elterman Pediatric Epilepsy Research Foundation Award (09/21/2018 Grant funding from Child Neurology Foundation
- Child Neurology Career Development Program - K12 (07/02/2017 Grant funding from Kennedy Krieger Institute
- Neurology Research Training Scholarship (07/01/2017 Grant funding from American Academy of Neurology
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