Wei Cao, PhD

Dr. Wei Cao is an associate professor in the Huffington Center on Aging and the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Wei grew up in Beijing, China, and attended Tsinghua University to study biology as an undergraduate. After traveling to the United States, Wei entered the graduate program in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she obtained her PhD in biochemistry studying protein biogenesis. Wei next trained with Dr. Michael B. A. Oldstone in The Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, CA, as a postdoc fellow in molecular virology. Following that, she joined a biotech company in California, working in flu vaccine development and production. Later, Wei moved to Texas and worked in the MD Anderson Cancer Center to start a career in Immunology research. She became an assistant professor in the Department of Immunology, studying innate immune responses pertinent to viral infection and autoimmunity. Most recently, Wei joined the Baylor College of Medicine to focus her research on neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative diseases. By applying the key findings from previous studies and expertise obtained studying immune pathologies, Dr. Cao is aiming to make an impact in AD research as well as therapeutic developments.