Dr. Yanan Du received his B.Eng. degree in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from National University of Singapore. Dr. Du completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, MIT and Brigham &Women's hospital, Harvard Medical School. In 2010, he joined the faculty at School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University as principal investigator, and being prompted to full professor in 2019.

Dr. Du’s research team has been innovating in the field of ‘Microtissue Engineering by forging the microscale 3D regenerative or fibrotic microniches. The well-designed microniches provide innovative and effective tools and solutions for cell manufacturing, regenerative medicine, and pathology study. Dr. Du has published ~100 high-impact papers in journals including Nature Materials, Nature BME, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS. Meanwhile, He has obtained the grant of 20 patents, including 2 patents being commercially translated with related products approved as the first cell pharmaceutical excipients by both China CDE and US FDA. He has been also serving as Editorial Board Members of three journals including Tissue Engineering Part C, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering and Cell Regeneration.

Topic title: Tension-induced Directional Migration of Hepatic Stellate Cells Coordinates Liver Fibrosis Progression

Abstract:

Liver fibrosis is a severe worldwide health issue. It is lethal especially in the late stage, and has the key feature of septa (‘portal to portal’ directional fibrous bands) caused by HSCs (Hepatic Stellate Cells). However, current in vitro models of liver fibrosis cannot reproduce both the liver lobule structure and septa caused by dynamic cell interaction. Moreover, the mechanism of liver fibrosis progression has been focused on biochemical cues, which cannot explain directional events very well. We designed a novel in vitro model using micro-fabrication that could reproduce both the liver lobule structure and septa. We found that tension was necessary to coordinate liver fibrosis progression, established a mechanism of the dynamic cell distribution, and verified that HSCs sensed directional biophysical cues through LLPS (Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation). This model provides the insight into the biophysical interaction of HSCs and collagen, and could benefit drug testing and mechanism studies.