[3] Yao jointed the former Shanghai Institute of Experimental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in August 1950.
In August 1988, Yao was elected the 1st president of Asian-Pacific Organization for Cell Biology.
[2] Yao was the main founder and the first editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Cell Research.
[4] Yao also served as the chief director of Chinese Society for Cell Biology.
[5] When Yao was in Britain, his research mainly focused on the developmental embryology of drosophila.