Research Overview
Stem cells and tissue engineering hold great promise in Regenerative Medicine. However, engrafting stem cells and generating tissues with stable functional vascular beds remain major challenges. Our laboratory uses bioengineering principles to understand how vascular networks are formed and the mechanisms by which the vasculature modulates the engraftment and activity of various human stem cells.
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Selected Publications
Rapid generation of functional vascular organoids via simultaneous transcription factor activation of endothelial and mural lineages
Gong L, Zhang Y, Zhu Y, Lee U, Luo AC, Li X, Wang X, Chen D, Pu WT, Lin RZ, Ma M, Cui M, Chen K, Wang K *, Melero-Martin JM *
Cell Stem Cell 2025; Jun 13. doi:10.1016/j.stem.2025.05.014. Online ahead of print.
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Mitochondrial transfer mediates endothelial cell engraftment through mitophagy
Lin RZ , Im GB, Luo AC, Zhu Y, Hong X, Neumeyer J, Tang HW, Perrimon N, Melero-Martin JM
Nature 2024;629(8012):660-668
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Robust differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into mural progenitor cells via transient activation of NKX3.1
Lee U †, Zhang Y †, Zhu Y, Luo AC, Gong L, Tremmel DM, Kim Y, Villarreal VS, Wang X, Lin RZ, Cui M, Ma M, Yuan K, Wang K *, Chen K *, Melero-Martin JM *
Nat Commun 2024;15:8392
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Robust differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into endothelial cells via temporal modulation of ETV2 with modified mRNA
Wang K, Lin RZ, Hong X, Ng AH, Lee CN, Neumeyer J, Wang G, Wang X, Ma M, Pu WT, Church GM, Melero-Martin JM
Sci Adv 2020;6(30):eaba7606
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Bioengineering hemophilia A-specific microvascular grafts for delivery of full-length factor VIII into the bloodstream
Neumeyer J, Lin RZ, Wang K, Hong X, Hua T, Croteau SE, Neufeld EJ, Melero-Martin JM
Blood Adv 2019;3(24):4166-4176
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Host non-inflammatory neutrophils mediate the engraftment of bioengineered vascular networks
Lin RZ, Lee CN, Moreno-Luna R, Neumeyer J, Piekarski B, Zhou P, Moses MA, Sachdev M, Pu WT, Emani S, Melero-Martin JM
Nat Biomed Eng 2017;1:0081 | Editorial Commentary | Editorial News and Views | Behind the paper
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