Litao Tao, PhD

Assistant Professor

Litao Tao

Contact

LitaoTao@creighton.edu
School of Medicine
Biomedical Sciences
Translational Hearing

Litao Tao, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Focus

Dr. Litao Tao graduated from Tsinghua University with BS and MS, and then he went to University of Southern California for his PhD and postdoctoral training. In 2021, Dr. Tao joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Creighton University as an assistant professor. Dr. Tao’s research is focused on epigenetic transcriptional regulation in the inner ear during development, maturation and regeneration. His research work is supported by government agencies and private foundations, including NIH (NIDCD and NIGMS), State of Nebraska, Hearing Health Foundation, American Hearing Research Foundation, and Bellucci Depaoli Family Foundation. His group has collaborations with many researchers all over the world, and his lab is a member lab of Hearing Restoration Project Consortium.
 

Department

Biomedical Sciences

Position

Assistant Professor

Articles

  • Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
    Neil Segil CDK2 regulates aminoglycoside-induced hair cell death through modulating c-Jun activity: Inhibiting CDK2 to preserve hearing, Litao Tao and Neil Segil, Front. Mol. Neurosci., 13 October 2022, Sec. Molecular Signalling and Pathways, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2022.1013383 2022
  • Sci Rep
    Hsin-I Jen, Hsin-I Jen, Sunita Singh, Litao Tao, Helen Maunsell, Neil Segil, Andrew Groves. GFI1 regulates hair cell differentiation by acting as an off-DNA transcriptional co-activator of ATOH1, and a DNA-binding repressor. Scientific Report, 2022, 12(1):7793. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11931-0. 2022
  • Adv Healthc Mater
    Shaohua Wu, Wu S, Li Y, Zhang C, Tao L, Kuss M, Lim JY, Butcher J, Duan B. Tri-Layered and Gel-Like Nanofibrous Scaffolds with Anisotropic Features for Engineering Heart Valve Leaflets. Adv Healthc Mater. 2022 May;11(10):e2200053. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202200053. Epub 2022 Mar 21. PMID: 35289986. 2022
  • Developmental Cell
    Tao L, , Tao L, Yu HV, Llamas J, Trecek T, Wang X, Stojanova Z, Groves AK, Segil N. Enhancer decommissioning imposes an epigenetic barrier to sensory hair cell regeneration. Dev Cell. 2021 Sep 13;56(17):2471-2485.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.07.003. Epub 2021 Jul 30. PMID: 34331868; PMCID: 34331868; PMC8650127. 2021
  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
    Yu HV, , Yu HV, Tao L, Llamas J, Wang X, Nguyen JD, Trecek T, Segil N. POU4F3 pioneer activity enables ATOH1 to drive diverse mechanoreceptor differentiation through a feed-forward epigenetic mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Jul 20;118(29):e2105137118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2105137118. PMID: 34266958; PMCID: PMC8307294. 2021
  • Elife
    Menendez L, , Menendez L, Trecek T, Gopalakrishnan S, Tao L, Markowitz AL, Yu HV, Wang X, Llamas J, Huang C, Lee J, Kalluri R, Ichida J, Segil N. Generation of inner ear hair cells by direct lineage conversion of primary somatic cells. Elife. 2020 Jun 30;9:e55249. doi: 10.7554/eLife.55249. PMID: 32602462; PMCID: PMC7326493. 2020
  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
    Gnedeva K,, Gnedeva K, Wang X, McGovern MM, Barton M, Tao L, Trecek T, Monroe TO, Llamas J, Makmura W, Martin JF, Groves AK, Warchol M, Segil N. Organ of Corti size is governed by Yap/Tead-mediated progenitor self-renewal. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Jun 16;117(24):13552-13561. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2000175117. Epub 2020 Jun 1. PMID: 32482884; PMCID: PMC7306825. 2020
  • Elife
    Jen HI,, Jen HI, Hill MC, Tao L, Sheng K, Cao W, Zhang H, Yu HV, Llamas J, Zong C, Martin JF, Segil N, Groves AK. Transcriptomic and epigenetic regulation of hair cell regeneration in the mouse utricle and its potentiation by Atoh1. Elife. 2019 Apr 29;8:e44328. doi: 10.7554/eLife.44328. PMID: 31033441; PMCID: PMC6504235. 2019
  • PLoS Genetics
    Salehi P,, Salehi P, Ge MX, Gundimeda U, Michelle Baum L, Lael Cantu H, Lavinsky J, Tao L, Myint A, Cruz C, Wang J, Nikolakopoulou AM, Abdala C, Kelley MW, Ohyama T, Coate TM, Friedman RA. Role of Neuropilin-1/Semaphorin-3A signaling in the functional and morphological integrity of the cochlea. PLoS Genet. 2017 Oct 23;13(10):e1007048. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007048. PMID: 29059194; PMCID: PMC5695633. 2017
  • Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
    Tao L,, Tao L, Segil N. Early transcriptional response to aminoglycoside antibiotic suggests alternate pathways leading to apoptosis in sensory hair cells in the mouse inner ear. Front Cell Neurosci. 2015 May 21;9:190. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2015.00190. PMID: 26052268; PMCID: PMC4439550. 2015