Mesenchymal Stem Cells : Biological Concepts, Current Advances, Opportunities and Challenges

Dr. Leisheng Zhang’s interests mainly focus on the biological function and molecular mechanism of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), including early development from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), cellular phenotype and genomic analysis, and applied transformation research. He and his colleagues have identified a number of master regulators (TWIST1, MSX2, PRAME) during early MSC development. Simultaneously, his group has been working on immune cells, and, in particular, natural killer (NK) cells, on the basis of single cell sequencing and Raman spectroscopy. Representative studies of his group are available in journals such as Cell Research (2015), Journal of Hematology & Oncology (2017), Stem Cell Reports (2018), Stem Cell Research & Therapy (2018, 2019a, 2019b, 2020, 2021), Stem Cell Reviews and Reports (2020), Cell & Bioscience (2020), Cell Proliferation (2021), Stem Cells International (2020, 2021), and the American Journal of Cancer Research (2021).

Professor Zhongchao Han’s research interests mainly focus on the fundamental and clinical studies of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), including cellular phenotype and genomic analysis, applied transformation research, and, in particular, the perinatal tissue-derived MSCs. Professor Han’s research aims to systematically reveal the multifaceted characteristics of MSCs derived from healthy donors and clinical patients, both at the cellular and molecular levels, together with MSC-based cyto-therapy for refractory and recurrent disease management. During the past 30 years, his team has published over 250 research articles and review articles on mesenchymal stem/stromal cells.

Professor Jialun Wang’s research interests mainly focus on the translational medicine of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), including clinical trials, MSC-based new drugs, and animal disease models. Professor Wang has published many articles and United States patents on MSC-derived exosomes, and MSC-based preclinical and clinical trials.

Professor Zongjin Li’s research interests mainly focus on stem cell biology and molecular imaging. During the past 30 years, a series of innovative studies have been performed by Professor Li’s team on stem cell therapy, stem cell differentiation, cell labelling, multimodal molecular imaging tracing of stem cells, and so on. Professor Li has published over 100 articles on stem cells and exosomes.

Professor Qing Huang’s research interests mainly focus on biophysics, physical chemistry, the applications of nuclear technology, ion beams interacting with organisms, and cyto-therapy. During the past 30 years, Professor Huang has published over 100 articles in the field.