Dr. Guangping Gao is the co-director at Li Weibo Institute for Rare Diseases Research, as well as the director at Horae Gene Therapy Center and Viral Vector Core. He is also the professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School;

He is an internationally well recognized gene therapy researcher who has played a key role in the discovery and characterization of new family of AAV serotypes, which was instrumental in reviving the gene therapy field, hugely impacting many currently untreatable human diseases. For 30+ years of his scientific research career, Dr. Gao has primarily focused on molecular genetics and viral vector gene therapy of rare genetic diseases.