Xiaojun (Lance) Lian
Education
Ph.D., Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2012
Postdoctoral Training
Harvard University, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
Karolinska Institutet, Cell and Molecular Biology
Awards
The 2017 Junior Investigator Award of Advanced Biomanufacturing from BMES
The 2016 Young Innovator of Biomedical Engineering Society and CMBE Journal
The Cozzarelli Prize of the National Academy of Science (the Best Biomedical Science Paper in PNAS in 2012)
Top Poster Prize of the Madison Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Conference in 2012
Top Poster Prize & the best Poster Presentation of the SBE/ISSCR International Stem Cell Engineering Conference in 2012
Ronald A. Ragatz Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009
The Chu Kochen Scholarship, the highest academic award of Zhejiang University in 2006
The National Talimu Oil Field Scholarship for Outstanding Students in 2006
The Excellent Thesis Prize of Zhejiang University in 2006
The First Prize of Excellent Undergraduate Scholarship, Zhejiang University
Research Interests
Human Stem Cell Engineering Laboratory
Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), are a potentially inexhaustible supply of human cells because they can be propagated indefinitely while still retaining the capacity to differentiate into all somatic cell types. Hurdles facing utilization of hPSCs in regenerative medicine include a lack of reliable and efficient methods to differentiate hPSCs to diseases related cell lineages, including cardiac muscle cells and pancreatic beta cells.
The goal of the Lian lab is to apply developmental principles and pathways, genome editing techniques, stem cells and model systems to unravel human development and disease at the molecular and cellular level, as well as to develop therapies aimed to treat degenerative diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, we are also interested in stem cell derived T-cell immunotherapy for cancer treatment.