Dr Yan Shao is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Host-Microbiota Interactions Laboratory at Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK. He obtained his BSc in Biology from Imperial College London and a PhD in Genomics from the University of Cambridge through the Sanger Institute’s 4-Year PhD Programme, under the supervision of Dr Trevor Lawley.
With over a decade of experience in human gut microbiome and metagenomics research, Dr Shao integrates computational and experimental approaches to study how early-life microbiome influence health and disease. He led the Baby Biome Study, a landmark UK birth cohort investigating the ecological and functional dynamics of the developing infant gut microbiome using large-scale sequencing and bacterial culturing.
His current work focuses on identifying predictive microbiome markers for childhood health by leveraging global infant microbiome datasets, machine learning methods, and multi-omics platforms. He also leads collaborative efforts across the Global South aimed at discovering next-generation probiotics and microbiome-based therapeutics to improve infant health. His work has been published in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, and Nature Microbiology, and has been featured by the BBC, CNN, and Nature News.