Ping Guo

Ping was born and raised in China, she came to Utah for undergraduate studies. Like most of the Biology-majored undergrads, she was pre-med once. Being pre-med was the reason got her into doing research. She did her undergrad researches in an evolutionary genetics lab where she met many passionate scientists and discovered her true interests. She ultimately decided to turn her back on the route of being a physician and become a scientist. She worked as a lab technician in labs studying mitochondrial dysfunction in yeasts and the iron-sulfur pathway in the apicoplast of P. falciparum before becoming a graduate student at the English lab.

Ping loves learning different languages, she speaks three more languages, other than Chinese and English. Other than the typical Utahn stuff (hiking, snowboarding, camping), she also enjoys playing with her adorable cat, Nopi, practicing cello, and lying on the couch like a potato.

Research

Ping is leveraging the TRUPATH G-protein sensor system to study the pharmacogenomics of GPCRs. She is currently focused on the pharmacogenomics of the mu-opioid receptor, successfully identifying a number of common human missense mutations that alter the molecular pharmacology of this receptor.