William Chen
University of South Dakota, SD·Biomedical Engineering
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are the most abundant adult precursor cells in the body, and they can help repair tissue. They are now approved by the FDA for clinical use.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Biology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
mesenchymal stem cells
mesenchymal stromal cells
synthetic biology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2030
What they work on
- Engineer mouse bone marrow MSCs carrying synthetic genetic circuits that detect inflammatory signals, improve MSC survival and shift tissue inflammation from destructive to constructive, tested in cell, organoid and animal models.
- Engineer human bone marrow MSCs that sense metabolic distress and respond by promoting survival, antioxidant defense and mitochondrial protection, validated in cellular, organoid and animal disease models.
- Build in feedback controls at the sensor and effector levels plus a microRNA-based safety switch so engineered MSCs scale their response to tissue damage and turn off when tissue heals.
- Identify MSC-specific pathology sensors using large-scale genetic sensor screening and machine learning to guide circuit design.
More about the research
But once transplanted into damaged or diseased tissue, many MSCs die or lose their healing ability in the harsh surroundings. This project proposes to use synthetic biology to make MSCs that sense trouble and respond on their own.
Why it matters
MSC therapies are already approved, but many transplanted cells fail in damaged tissue. Self-regulating aiMSCs that sense injury, strengthen their own survival and shut off once tissue heals could make stem cell treatments for inflammatory and metabolic tissue damage more reliable and safer. The approach could also inform designer cell therapies and precision medicine.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Samira Musah
Duke University, NC·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Use human stem cell-derived kidney models, including organoids and organ-on-chip systems, to identify tunable molecular targets that let specific cell types sense injury and trigger tissue repair.
Johnna Temenoff
Georgia Institute of Technology, GA·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether attaching transactivator of transcription (TAT) peptides, which help cargo enter cells, to donor mitochondria increases their uptake and bone formation by precursor cells in culture.
Maneesh Dave
University of California-Davis, CA·Biomedical Engineering
Build inflammation Digital Pathology Tools (iDPT), machine learning and pathomics modules that preprocess, annotate and quantify inflammation, using about 700 digitized H&E-stained slides from mouse models of IBD and GvHD.
The school
University of South Dakota: 4 labs on PI Pages, $28M a year on research, 52 research doctorates a year.
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