Developing a new therapeutic strategy for human organ regeneration is a major goal and the most critical challenge in modern biology and medicine. Recent advances in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) biotechnology hold great promise in regenerative medicine; however, therapeutic effects of the cell therapies for deficit organs remain elusive, because of low functional engraftment of transplanted cells into the host tissues and organs. More recently, tissue engineering-based technologies have been shown to promote engraftment of transplanted cells and elicit regenerative effects for damaged organs, although these technologies are still in infancy.

Our missions are to decipher developmental and regenerative mechanisms of human tissues and organs and to develop novel regenerative therapeutics for human disease. Based on stem cell and developmental biology, cardiovascular biology and medicine, and regenerative medicine, we utilize latest biotechnologies such as hPSCs, single-cell omics research, mRNA technologies, in vitro 3D organoid models, etc.

Because one of our major focuses is on heart development and regeneration, the concepts and objectives in heart development and regeneration research are shown as below.

The specific aims are 3-fold:

1. Characterize the roles and functions of the mammalian embryonic heart- or hPSC differentiation-derived single-cell omics studies-identified heart stem/progenitor cells and cardiogenic paracrine mediators during in vitro and in vivo cardiogenesis. (Aim 1)
2. Innovate the specific progenitor-mRNA-tissue engineering-hybrid functional heart muscle grafts/organoids and mRNA medicine for therapeutics in in vivo heart disease models. (Aim 2 & 3)
3. Establish the new cardiac disease modeling and drug screening platforms with in vitro hPSC differentiation-mRNA-heart organoid 3D culture systems for future personalized medicine. (Aim 4)