Rate My Professor Hongchao Guo

Hongchao Guo is an Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He serves as an Investigator at the Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research and Training Institute (CVRTI). Dr. Guo obtained his BS from Tianjin Agricultural University, followed by MS and PhD degrees in cell biology from the College of Life Science at Nankai University in 2015. After his doctoral studies, he worked as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). He then pursued postdoctoral training at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute in Dr. Joseph C. Wu's laboratory, advancing to Instructor in 2021. In March 2023, Dr. Guo joined the University of Utah as a tenure-track Assistant Professor.

Dr. Guo's research program focuses on elucidating the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms governing cardiovascular development and diseases through human stem cell models, CRISPR screening, single-cell sequencing, human 2D and 3D cardiac models, and animal studies. His laboratory investigates heart development and regeneration, identifying key regulators such as the long non-coding RNA BANCR and the epigenetic driver SETD7, and developing reporter tools like TBX5Clover2 and NKX2-5 TagRFP for cardiac lineage studies. In cardiovascular disease modeling, the lab examines genetic variants such as ALDH2*2 and environmental factors like alcohol and nicotine on cardiovascular health using patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells to advance precision medicine. Dr. Guo has published extensively in leading journals including Science Translational Medicine, Cell Stem Cell, Development Cell, and Stem Cell Reports. Selected publications include "SGLT2 inhibitor ameliorates endothelial dysfunction associated with the common ALDH2 alcohol flushing variant" (Science Translational Medicine, 2023), "Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation Delineates Adverse Effects of Nicotine" (Stem Cell Reports, 2019), and "Endogenous Retrovirus-Derived lncRNA BANCR Promotes Cardiomyocyte Migration" (Developmental Cell, 2020). His contributions are supported by the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (2020) and the Harold S. Geneen Charitable Trust Award for Coronary Artery Disease Research (2024).