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Xiaojun (Lance) Lian

Associate Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering
Xiaojun Lance Lian
Biography

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.