Xia Gao

Xia Gao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics-Nutrition and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine. She leads the Gao Lab, based at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas, where she investigates the role of nutrition and metabolism in diseases such as cancer and obesity.

Her research focuses on amino acid metabolism, particularly the impact of dietary methionine and serine restriction on cancer progression and therapy efficacy. She employs in vivo mouse models and in vitro systems combined with metabolomics, molecular biology, and immunology techniques.

The most recent publications from her lab reveal a strong trend in cancer metabolism, especially in prostate and liver cancers, with a focus on dietary interventions, metabolic reprogramming, and immune cell metabolism. Her work bridges nutritional science and precision oncology, aiming to develop effective dietary therapies.

• Dietary methionine influences therapy in mouse cancer models and alters human metabolism (Nature, 2019)
• HNF4α regulates sulfur amino acid metabolism and confers sensitivity to methionine restriction in liver cancer (Nature Communications, 2020)
• Targeting glutamine metabolism in therapy-resistant prostate cancer (Oncogene, 2022)

Dr. Gao is supported by competitive grants, including a CPRIT award (RP210056) on dietary methionine restriction to enhance chemotherapy, and an NIH/NCI R00 grant on methionine metabolism in cancer. These grants underscore her role as an independent investigator with significant research funding.

The Gao Lab is part of the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, a premier research facility equipped with advanced laboratories, a metabolic kitchen, and interdisciplinary teams focused on child and adult nutrition and disease prevention.