Xiaobo Mao, PhD

Professor of Neurology

Institute for Cell Engineering

Institute for NanoBioTechnology

https://www.linkedin.com/in/xiaobo-mao-7a74742a/

https://x.com/XiaoboMao

• Air pollution directly linked to increased dementia risk, Nature News (September 4, 2025)
• What causes this common type of dementia? Scientists discover a new clue," National Geographic (September 29, 2025)
• Air pollution can drive devastating forms of dementia, research suggests, The Guardian (September 4, 2025)
• What the Air You Breathe May Be Doing to Your Brain, The New York Times (November 1, 2025)
• (Free full text via KFF Health News)
• Parkinson's discovery suggests we may have an FDA-approved treatment already ScienceAlert (October 21, 2025)
• Nanobody has potential to treat Parkinson's disease, Johns Hopkins University Hub (August 2, 2022)
• Major breakthrough of nanobodies can potentially treat Parkinson's & neurodegenerative diseases BeyondMed Ai (March 23, 2023
• Pathogenic α-synuclein cell-to-cell transmission mechanism and related therapeutic development, Magnus Group (March 11, 2023)

733 N. Broadway, MRB 715
Baltimore, MD 21205

xmao4@jhmi.edu

Neurodegeneration; Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia; Alzheimer's disease; protein misfolding and prion-like transmission (α-synuclein, tau); α-synuclein strain biology and structure; neuroimmunology (LAG3, APLP1); environmental neurotoxicology (fine particulate air pollution, PM2.5); nanomedicine (nanobodies, nanozymes, PROTACs); biophysics of amyloid assembly

Xiaobo Mao - Lab Website

My research focuses on the mechanisms of protein misfolding in neurodegenerative diseases, built upon a multidisciplinary foundation in biophysics (with Dr. Chen Wang) and molecular neurobiology (with Drs. Ted and Valina Dawson). As an independent investigator, my laboratory has made foundational contributions to understanding how prion-like proteins drive neurodegeneration. We identified LAG3 as the primary receptor for α-synuclein and tau transmission (Science 2016; PNAS 2021; Adv Sci 2024)—work recognized as one of the 40 key discoveries in 200 years of Parkinson's disease research. We subsequently defined its functional co-receptor, APLP1 (Nat Commun 2024), and uncovered a key downstream toxicity pathway involving PARP1 activation that generates hyper-toxic protein strains (Science 2018). We integrate these biological insights with advanced biophysical and analytical platforms (STM, NMR, SAA) to define the structure, function, and clinical relevance of protein strains. Our program also investigates how key etiological factors, such as environmental exposures (e.g., air pollution) and infections, contribute to protein misfolding (Science 2025). To address these complex questions and drive therapeutic innovation, we employ a wide array of advanced technologies including novel nanozymes, protein-engineering platforms (nanobodies, Nat Commun 2022; PROTACs), RNA-degrading chimeras (PNAS 2026), and high-throughput screening. In summary, my multidisciplinary and translational program has a proven track record of impactful research, and my laboratory is well-equipped to continue making foundational discoveries in neurodegenerative disease.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xwAtsGEAAAAJ&hl=en

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1zk-493x1B4AF/bibliography/public/

https://pure.johnshopkins.edu/en/persons/xiaobo-mao/

1. Zhang X, Liu H, Wu X, Jia L, Gadhave K, Wang L, Zhang K, Li H, Chen R, Kumbhar R, Wang N, Terrillion CE, Kang BG, Bai B, Park M, Denna MCF, Zhang S, Zheng W, Ye D, Rong X, Yang L, Niu L, Ko HS, Peng W, Jin L, Ying M, Rosenthal LS, Nauen DW, Pantelyat A, Kaur M, Irene K, Shi L, Feleke R, Garcia-Ruiz S, Ryten M, Dawson VL, Dominici F, Weber RJ, Zhang X, Liu P, Dawson TM, Han S, Mao X*. Lewy body dementia promotion by air pollutants. Science. 2025;389(6764):eadu4132.

2. Mao X*, Gu H, Kim D, Kimura Y, Wang N, Xu E, Kumbhar R, Ming X, Wang H, Chen C, Zhang S, Jia C, Liu Y, Bian H, Karuppagounder SS, Akkentli F, Chen Q, Jia L, Hwang H, Lee SH, Ke X, Chang M, Li A, Yang J, Rastegar C, Sriparna M, Ge P, Brahmachari S, Kim S, Zhang S, Shimoda Y, Saar M, Liu H, Kweon SH, Ying M, Workman CJ, Vignali DAA, Muller UC, Liu C, Ko HS, Dawson VL, Dawson TM. Aplp1 interacts with Lag3 to facilitate transmission of pathological alpha-synuclein. Nature Communications. 2024;15:4663.

3. Kam TI#, Mao X#, Park H# (#equal contribution), Chou SC, Karuppagounder SS, Umanah GE, Yun SP, Brahmachari S, Panicker N, Chen R, Andrabi SA, Qi C, Poirier GG, Pletnikova O, Troncoso JC, Bekris LM, Leverenz JB, Pantelyat A, Ko HS, Rosenthal LS, Dawson TM, Dawson VL. Poly(ADP-ribose) drives pathologic alpha-synuclein neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease. Science. 2018;362(6414):eaat8407.

4. Mao X, Ou MT, Karuppagounder SS, Kam TI, Yin X, Xiong Y, Ge P, Umanah GE, Brahmachari S, Shin JH, Kang HC, Zhang J, Xu J, Chen R, Park H, Andrabi SA, Kang SU, Goncalves RA, Liang Y, Zhang S, Qi C, Lam S, Keiler JA, Tyson J, Kim D, Panicker N, Yun SP, Workman CJ, Vignali DA, Dawson VL, Ko HS, Dawson TM. Pathological alpha-synuclein transmission initiated by binding lymphocyte-activation gene 3. Science. 2016;353(6307):aah3374.

5. Butler YR, Liu Y, Kumbhar R, Zhao P, Gadhave K, Wang N, Li Y, Mao X*, Wang WJ. Fibril-specific nanobody prevents prion-like alpha-synuclein spreading. Nature Communications. 2022;13:4060.

Parkinson's Disease and Disease-Modifying Therapy---STEM CELLS AND THE BIOLOGY OF AGING AND DISEASE, AS.020.337

• Therapeutic Uses of LAG3, the α-Synuclein Transmission Receptor. WO2018039147A1; PCT/US2017/047878 (granted 6/27/2019)
• Disulfide bond-free and fibril-specific nanobodies prevent prion-like α-synuclein spreading. US20240336677A1; US Provisional 63/222,141
• Nanozyme Scavenging ROS for Prevention of Pathologic α-Synuclein Transmission in Parkinson's Disease. JHU C16214
• A detection method for the relative adsorption constant of dye, antibody, drug and pro-drug molecules on peptides. WO2011060598A1 & CN102062718

• Bill and Amy Gurley Impact Award, Parkinson's Foundation, 2023
• Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award, Parkinson's Foundation, 2019
• Discovery Award, Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, 2019, 2024, 2026
• New Investigator Award in Alzheimer's Disease, AFAR / The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, 2018
• Publons Peer Review Award — Top 1% of Reviewers in Chemistry,
• CurePSP Grant Award, CurePSP Foundation, 2018
• Paul Ehrlich Research Award, Johns Hopkins University Young Investigators' Day, 2017
• APDA Research Grant, American Parkinson Disease Association, 2017
• Best Poster Award, 18th Annual NINDS Udall Centers Meeting, 2016
• NIA/ADRC Johns Hopkins Pilot Project Award, 2016
• Director's Scholarship, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2007–2009
• Outstanding Student Award, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2007–2009

• Invited Speaker (Congress faculty), MDS International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, Seoul, Korea (2026)
• Selected oral presentation representing the Department of Neurology, 150th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association (ANA), Baltimore, MD,(2025)
• α-Synuclein strain evolution and underlying mechanism in LBD, Movement Disorders Grand Rounds, Johns Hopkins (2025)
• Invited Speaker, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (2023)
• Invited Speaker, Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association (CBA) Symposium (2023)
• Invited Keynote Speaker, IEEE 3M-Nano (Tianjin University) and LHMM,  Hamburg, Germany (2022)
• "The mechanism of pathological α-synuclein transmission," Keystone Symposium, Keystone, CO (2019)
• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Young Scholars Symposium, New York (2018)

• Cellular and Molecular Medicine (CMM) Program
• Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Program

• American Chemical Society
• Society for Neuroscience
• International Society for Neurochemistry
• The Gerontological Society

• Associate Editor, Biomolecules (MDPI), 2026–present
• Associate Editor, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 2025–present
• Academic Editor, Biomolecules, 2022–present
• Editorial Board Member: Biomolecules (2021–); Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (2022–); Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (2022–); Neuroprotection (2022–); Ageing and Neurodegenerative Diseases (2024–); Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine (2023–); Anesthesiology and Perioperative Science (2022–)
• Guest Editor, multiple special issues — Biomolecules, Frontiers in Neuroscience / Chemistry / Medical Technology, Neuroprotection (2021–2025)
• Ad hoc reviewer, NIH study sections (NINDS/NIA: R01, P01, K01, MOSAIC K99/R00, D-SPAN, ADRD), 2021–
• Reviewer, Parkinson's Foundation (Impact Award & Research Center Award; Postdoctoral Fellowship Program), 2022, 2024, 2025