Dr. Ying received his scientific training in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors. His research interests focus on identifying potential therapeutic targets to control the self-renewal and differentiation of normal and malignant neural stem cells. As a postdoctoral fellow in Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Ying studied α-synuclein pathology and the molecular mechanism of Parkinson’s disease, and established a series of α-synuclein transgenic mice as Parkinson’s disease models. After joining the neuro-oncology laboratory in Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, his research has been increasingly focused on studying signaling pathways that modulate human brain tumor stem cells and normal neural stem cells. He identified a novel transcription factor, krupple-like factor 9, which can differentiate glioblastoma stem cells, inhibit their tumor propagation, and suppress Notch signaling in these cells. Dr. Ying also identified retinoic acid as a differentiating agent that depletes glioblastoma stem cells by inhibiting Notch signaling. 

After receiving his faculty appointment in 2011, Dr. Ying focuses his research on identifying novel molecular signaling essential for the self-renewal and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma stem cells. He demonstrated for the first time that hyaluronan-mediated motility receptor maintains the self-renewal and tumorigenicity of glioblastoma stem cells, suggesting a novel therapeutic target for glioblastoma. His laboratory is also studying the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells and exploring the use of these normal stem cells in modeling neurological disorders. He has established a highly efficient differentiation method for deriving midbrain dopaminergic neurons from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Most recently, Dr. Ying also received the Career Development Award from US Department of Defense to apply human induced pluripotent stem cells in modeling aggressive medulloblastoma.