My primary research goals are to identify the molecular mechanisms of stem cell mediated cardiovascular protection and regeneration. More specifically, we are interested in (1) cross talking between HIF-1α and Notch signaling in homing, survival, and differentiation of stem cells; (2) exosomes-mediated survival signaling in stem cell mediated cardio protection; (3) the regulation of small non-coding RNA (microRNA) and long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) in stem cells; (4) cardiac differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells; (4) role of HDAC11 in cardiovascular disease. We found that hypoxic preconditioning enhances paracrine effects of CPC transplantation and improves heart function via angiogenesis and cardiovascular lineage differentiation. I have 10-year’s interdisciplinary research experience in mouse model of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion, mouse cardiovascular physiology, mouse vascular injury model, stem cell biology, molecular biology and histology.
Yan Shen
Research Assistant
Chongyu (Will) Zhang, PhD