YAO Kai-tai

Major academic achievements:

Graduated from Shanghai Medical University in 1954, Professor YAO Kai-tai now is the leading expert in Cancer Center of Southern Medical University, PhD Supervisor and academician of Chinese Academy of Science. For the long-term research of tumor molecular pathology, Prof. Yao is a distinguished tumor pathophysiology expert and one of the founders of NPC study in China. Over the course of his academic studies, he identified for the first time in the world that chemical carcinogens nitrosamines has certain affinity to human nasopharyngeal epithelia.He developed stable embryonic nasopharyngeal epithelium cell culture method and witnessed the malignant transformation of human embryo nasopharyngeal epithelia induced by N, N'-Dinitrosopip erazine(DNP).Prof. Yao made a pioneering research on genome of EB virus of Cell lines and established firstly epithelial cell line of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma and he has conducted systematic study on molecular biological characteristics in the developing process of NPC. Prof. Yao presently focused his study on stem cell research and molecular mechanism of NPC. In 2007, Prof. Yao firstly in the world extracted and identified the stem cells of NPC and in 2012, he found that c-MYC-CHK1/CHK2 pathway played a critical role in regulating DNA-damage-checkpoint responses and stem cell characteristics of NPC and revealed that during the treatment of NPC can be performed by the reversal of chemotherapy through inhibition of the c-MYC-CHK1/CHK2 pathway. And the founding was published in Cancer Research, a famous journal in cancer research field meanwhile it was included in the column for significant findings presented by Chinese scholars by Elsevier, a noted international publishing house.

Prof. Yao undertook more than thirty projects including key programs in the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Five-year Project in China, projects supported by the National “973” or “863” Project or National Natural Science Foundation, projects supported by CMB, cooperation research project of China and Hongkong and key program of science and technology funded by Guangdong Province. Presently, Prof. Yao undertook one of the branch project of the National “863” Project and one of the branch project of the National “973” Project. Prof. Yao published a total of 303 academic papers and 46 of them were cited by SCI, including those published in Cancer research，Clinical cancer research，Journal of medical genetics, Neoplasia, International journal of cancer, Biomacromolecules ，Journal of proteome research，BMC bioinformatics, BMC Cancer, Journal of Translational Medicine, Histopathology, Ann Surg Oncol, Biomacromolecules.

1996,The second prize of State Scientific and Technological Advances Award, Chinese MinistryofScienceandTechnology

1996, The second prize of Scientific and Technological Advances Award, Chinese Ministry of Health

1997, The third prize of national invention

1991, The second prize of science and technology progress award, Chinese Ministry of Education

1986, The second prize of Scientific and Technological Advances Award, Chinese Ministry of Health

1989, National Outstanding Teachers, Chinese Ministry of Education

1998, Outstanding Mid-Aged Expert, Ministry of Health

The expert enjoyed special government allowances from the State Council since 1991