CU-BioE: Ning Zhang

Ning Zhang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1994, Nanjing University

of Chemical Engineering
M.S. Materials Science & Engineering, 2000, Univ. of Cincinnati
Ph.D. Bioengineering, 2003, University of Utah

Research Interests

Stem Cell Plasticity
Interactions of Stem Cells with Microenvironment
Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Tumor/Cancer

Email:
Office: BSB#612 (MUSC campus)
Phone: 843.792.0974

Stem Cell Engineering Laboratory

Honors, Awards, and Professional Activities

Outstanding Student Research Travel Award from Society For Biomaterials (2001)

Graduate Student Recruiting Award, University of Utah (1999-2000)

University Graduate Scholarship, University of Cincinnati (1997-1998, and 1998-1999)

Current Research

The overall goal of our research is to develop and validate novel engineering approaches to address life science questions related to the potential and utilization of stem cells for human tissue repair, and for the treating and curing of human diseases. Our bioengineering-focused research has been initiated in three parallel thrusts as the following:

Behavior and Plasticity of Stem Cells

A comprehensive picture of the behavior and plasticity of stem cells from different sources, classes, and ages in different tissues and organs (e.g., adult brain tissue, heart, craniofacial tissues, etc.) is developed based upon novel bioengineering paradigms. Emphasis is placed on the comparisons of the behavior and plasticity of different stem cell populations upon exposure to similar tissue environment in vivo with the aim to understand the intrinsic properties that distinguish one population from another and how these populations differ in their response to similar in vivo environment.

Interactions of Stem Cells with Microenvironment

An understanding of the effect of environmental factors on stem cell behavior and activities is fundamental to the development of protocols to utilize stem cells for therapeutic purposes. Changes in the microenvironment due to regional difference in the tissue, tissue damaging, aging, pathological processes, or drug exposure, can result in the alteration of stem cell behavior and functions. To reveal the nature of the conditions that governs stem cell behavior and fate decisions, the bi-directional communications of stem cells that are either transplanted in vivo or normally resident within the host tissue, with their 3-dimensional surroundings through cellular, molecular, and genetic signaling are characterized. Our long-term objective is to precisely define the conditions necessary to produce specific functional differentiated phenotypes in sufficient quantities and maintain in that differentiated state either in vitro for transplantation or in vivo in tissue environment as replacement cells for clinical uses.

Clinically Applicable Stem Cell Therapy/Translational Stem Cell Research

As a pre-clinical stage of stem cell research, the potential of stem cells in promoting structural and functional restoration of damaged or diseased tissues and organs is evaluated in clinical relevant settings. The versatile nature of stem cells raises the concern regarding their generation of undesired phenotypes with unpredictable consequences, when triggered by the local environment, which is complicated in vivo by the presences of a whole spectrum of multiple known and unknown factors. Stem cell therapies are tested in experimental animal models to determine whether stem cells are able to retard the progression of these pathologies and ameliorate tissue/organ functions. Communications between the transplanted stem cells with the host cells are assessed using novel bioengineering approaches. In parallel, implantable functional tissues are engineered in vitro based upon stem cells. Stem cells of appropriate sources and classes are induced to differentiate into desirable phenotypes under in vitro cell culture conditions and are organized into 3-D constructs that mimic native tissue architecture for implantation in vivo, or serving as 3-D tissue model systems for drug testing in vitro. To better reproduce the chemical, biological, and biomechanical environment for 3-D tissue formation in vivo, a series of bioreactors that are capable of integrating a wide array of environmental factors that promote tissue formation from differentiated stem cells, with non-invasive monitoring systems for 3-D tissue growth, are applied in vitro to stem cell-scaffold construct. The structure, composition, and functions of the stem cell-engineered tissue are monitored quantitatively over time and compared to the data collected from native tissue. The survival and functional integration of the engineered tissue with the host after implantation are characterized.

Recent Publications

Zhang N, Nichols HL, Tylor S, Wen X; Fabrication of nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite doped degradable composite hollow fiber for guided and biomimetic bone tissue engineering.; Materials Science & Engineering C; 27(3), 599-606, 2007

Zhang N, Mustin D, Reardon W, Almeida AD, Mozdziak P, Mrug M, Eisenberg LM, and Sedmera D. Blood-borne stem cells differentiate into vascular and cardiac lineages during normal development. Stem Cells Dev 15: 17-28, 2006

Zhang N, Zhang C, and Wen X; Fabrication of semi-permeable hollow fiber membranes with highly aligned texture for nerve guidance; Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A. 75(4):941-949, 2005

Zhang N, Yan H, and Wen X; Tissue engineering strategies for axonal guidance; Brain Research Review; 49(1), 48-64, 2005

Nichols HL, Zhang N, Wen X. Proteomics and genomics of microgravity. Physiol Genomics;26(3):163-71, 2006

Nichols HL, Zhang N, Zhang J, Bhaduri S, Shi D, Wen X; Coating nano-thickness degradable films on nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite particles to improve the bonding strength between nanoHA and degradable polymer matrix. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A. (In press)