物理学和生物学的交叉领域，主要利用物理和数学等理论方法研究生命体中的运动与信息传递。研究领域涉及多学科、多尺度的问题，并注重理论、计算与实验合作。目前的研究兴趣包括：

1.利用随机热力学探索细胞和分子尺度上的涨落与生物功能之间的关系

2.分子机器，尤其是分子马达的功能与结构

3.利用数学模型与数值模拟的方法探索多细胞相互作用于运动

代表性文章：

1. Y. Cao, H. Wang, Q. Ouyang, Y. Tu, The free-energy cost of accurate biochemical oscillations, Nature Physics 11, 772 (2015)

2. C. Fei, Y. Cao, Q. Ouyang, Y. Tu, Design principles for enhancing phase sensitivity and suppressing phase fluctuations simultaneously in biochemical oscillatory systems, Nature Communications 9, 1434 (2018)

3.D. Zhang, Y. Cao, Q. Ouyang, Y. Tu, The energy cost and optimal design for synchronization of coupled molecular oscillators, Nature Physics 16, 95–100 (2020)

4.J. Kim, Y. Cao, C. Eddy, H. Levine, W.-J. Rappel, B. Sun, The mechanics and dynamics of cancer cells sensing noisy 3D contact guidance, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A (2021)

5. Y. Cao, E. Ghabache, W.-J. Rappel, Plasticity of cell migration resulting from mechanochemical coupling, eLife (2019)

6.E. Ghabache, Y. Cao, Y. Miao, A. Groisman, P. Devreotes W.-J. Rappel, Coupling traction force patterns and actomyosin wave dynamics reveals mechanics of cell motion, Mol. Syst. Biol. (2021)

7.Y. Tu, Y. Cao, Design principles and optimal performance for molecular motors under realistic constraints, Phys. Rev. E 97, 022403 (2018)

8.Y. Cao, T. Li, Y. Tu, Modeling bacterial flagellar motor with new structure information: rotational dynamics of two interacting protein nano-rings, Front. Microbiol. (2022)