饶毅：美国西北大学医学院教授、神经科学研究所副所长，中国科学院上海交叉学科研究中心（SIAS）共同主任。除从事专业研究外，近年来在《南方周末》、《科技中国》等媒体中发表多篇文章就中国科技政策及科技体制等问题阐述自己的观点，引起广泛关注。

Yi Rao, PhD
Professor
Neurology
Associate Director, NU Institute of Neuroscience
E-mail: y-rao@northwestern.edu

Research Area
The long-term goal of the Rao lab is to understand molecular and cellular mechanisms of neural development.

Multidisciplinary approaches ranging from molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology to imaging are used to study basic mechanisms controlling spatial and temporal aspects of axon guidance and neuronal migration. We have proposed that guidance mechanisms are fundamentally conserved from axon pathfinding, neuronal migration to leukocyte chemotaxis. Studies of neuronal guidance will provide insights into basic cell biological and developmental mechanisms as well as a basis to help design strategies to alleviate neural injuries and to control tumor metastasis.

Intracellular Signal Transduction Mechanisms Underlying Neuronal Guidance. We will study how polarized neuronal migration is regulated by extracellular cues. We will investigate pathways for both the repellent Slit and the attractant netrin to uncover principles of general importance in directional guidance. We have begun to investigate intracellular molecules downstream of Slit and netrin, and have proposed pathways beginning from cell surface receptors, through small GTPases of the Rho family to the actin cytoskeleton. In vitro and in vivo functional assays have been established that allow us to study axon guidance and neuronal migration. Modern imaging approaches (including fluorescence resonance energy transfer, FRET) make it possible to determine the activities as well as distribution of specific proteins in migrating cells with high spatial and temporal resolutions.

New Extracellular Cues and Their Function in Neural Development. Although several families of guidance cues have been identified, it is clear that we are far from understanding how any neuronal precursor cells reach their destinations from their origins. The formation of the mammalian olfactory bulb (OB) is a major model for our studies of neuronal migration. Our recent work suggests the existence of an new attractive activity in the OB. The molecular nature of the activity and its functional roles in OB development will be pursued.

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

Guan KL and Rao Y. 2003. Signal transduction mechanisms mediating neuronal responses to guidance cues. Nat Rev Neurosci 4, 941-956.

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

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

Wu JY, Feng L, Park H-T, Havlioglu N, Wen L, Tang H, Bacon KB, Jiang Z, Zhang X-C, and Rao Y. 2001. The neuronal repellent Slit inhibits leukocyte chemotaxis induced by chemotactic factors. Nature 410, 948-952.

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. 1999. Vertebrate slit, a secreted ligand for the transmembrane protein roundabout, is a repellent for olfactory bulb axons. Cell 96, 807-818.

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