The Department of Physiology is pleased to announce
Professor Ching-Ling (Ellen) Lien, PhD
Surgery, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Saban Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California
will be presenting a seminar titled
“Unravelling the critical roles of cardiac vasculature in heart development, disease, and regeneration”
Thursday, May 1, 2025 – 3:30 – 5:00 pm
Cancer Research Building Auditorium, Room 114
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Hosted by Dr. Junwang Xu
Refreshments will be provided. Flyer PDF
SUMMARY
Heart failure is the leading cause of death globally. Novel therapeutic interventions are needed to improve the regenerative response of damaged or diseased human hearts and improve heart functions. Zebrafish provide a unique opportunity to study cardiac regeneration since they have the remarkable capacity to regenerate hearts naturally. We have characterized the process and signaling pathways involved in coronary and cardiac lymphatic vessel development and heart regeneration in zebrafish. Using microRNA, scRNA-seq and snMultiomic analyses, we analyzed the gene expression and chromatin landscape in zebrafish and human hearts to determine evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of cardiac lymphatic vessel development. We further explored how these mechanisms can be applied to enhance heart regeneration in mammals.
INTRODUCTION
Dr. Ching-Ling Ellen Lien obtained her B. S. from National Taiwan University and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Her Ph.D. training is on mouse heart development. She completed her postdoctoral training at Children’s Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School where she studied tissue regeneration using zebrafish as a model. Dr. Lien’s research has been funded by NIH R01s, the American Heart Association, Wright foundation, Department of Defense (DoD) and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.