Current Positions

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology

Education

BSc (Animal Science), Yanbian University, China
MSc (Animal reproduction), Jilin University, China
PhD (Molecular Pharmacology), University of Groiningen, The Netherlands

Research Focus

My research focuses on characterizing the distorted alveolar epithelial development in bronchopulmonary dysplasia. We postulate that pulmonary alveolar epithelial stem/progenitor cells play a key role in lung development and repair. By establishing a lung organoid platform together with multi-omics tools usage, we will investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms for novel drug target discovery as well as seek stem cell therapy potentials in treating children with abnormal lung development.

Research Interests

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease that affects premature infants with increasing mortality worldwide. In Canada, premature births have increased from 7.1% in 1993 to 8.3% in 2023 (statistics Canada). Injury to the developing lung and impaired growth of the alveoli and blood vessels are the main characteristics of BPD. During lung development, conducting airways are formed first, followed by alveolarization where gas exchange happens. The barrier between air and blood consists of continuous alveolar epithelium, capillary endothelium, and a thin extracellular matrix layer in between.

We postulate that pulmonary alveolar epithelial progenitor cells play a key role in lung development and repair. The overall goal is to characterize the disrupted alveolar epithelial development in BPD, and its hypothesized roles in alveolar repair. Our research interests will focus on characterizing interactions of alveolar niche cells during lung development in health, disease, and injury, and thereby yield novel drug targets and the therapeutical potentials of alveolar epithelial stem/progenitor cells for future development to improve children's lung health.