Min Yao
Address:
280, Mohe Road,
Baoshan district,
Shanghai 201999,
China.
Research Interests:
(1) cellular and molecular mechanisms of wound healing,
(2) skin tissue engineering,
(3) inflammation-induced angiogenesis, and
(4) mechanisms of angiogenesis.
Biography:
- I have worked in the field of cellular and molecular biology of wound healing and tissue engineering for thirty years.
- I have published 25 original papers in journals such as Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Circulation Research and Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
- During my work on wound healing, I developed a partial-thickness burn injury animal model to investigate the interaction of inflammatory cells, tissue repair cells and gene expression of growth factors as well as their receptors during the wound healing process.
- I characterized the spatial and temporal patterns of the production and gene expression of PDGF, EGF, TGF-, and their receptors during the stages of wound healing.
- In my studies in tissue engineering, I successfully identified and isolated the skin progenitor cells for an engineered skin using a double labeling technique for keratin 15 and integrin- 1 (CD 29) along with magnetically activated cell-sorting techniques.
- Continuing this work, I created a composite artificial skin by incorporating the cultured fibroblasts into an acellular skin dermal matrix (ADM).
- By transplanting this artificial skin into full-thickness skin defects in rats, I found that the ADM is a suitable scaffold for skin tissue engineering.
- I also found that this artificial skin grafting improved the wound healing quality by promoting remodeling of the basement membrane.
- In UCR, I was also instrumental in developing a human skin organ culture with multiple skin cell types, which was used in investigating the cellular and molecular basis of abnormal healing in humans.
- We cultured the skin fibroblasts, microvascular endothelial cells and keratinocytes together in a basic extracellular matrix.
- This organ culture matured into a skin tissue that contains well-developed epidermis and microvessels. During my staying in MGH,
- I focus on the trachea repair and replacement. The research goal is to develop a differentiated layer of tracheal epithelial cells that can be bonded to damaged trachea or bioengineered trachea.
- Bonding will be accomplished with a light-activated technology, photochemical tissue bonding.
- I addressed the molecular mechanisms of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Protein (SREBP) in inflammation and angiogenesis respectively.
- By applying the full-length chemokine or its peptides to the cells using a retroviral expression system, I found that N- and C-peptides derived from IL-8 elicited downstream events in a -dependent manner.
- In addition, the Src family tyrosine kinases also play an important role in the downstream events leading to MAPK phosphorylation.
- The chemokine-derived peptides were able to induce chemotaxis in a variety of cell types, including human microvascular endothelial cells, THP-1 monocytic cells, and macrophages.
- Using molecular and cellular biology methods in vitro and the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and angiogenesis partial-skin wound healing model in vivo, I found that SREBP, a lipid metabolism governor molecule, is a key protein in regulating angiogenesis.
- These results indicated that the inhibition of SREBPs effectively blocks angiogenesis and SREBP plays a critical role in regulating different categories of angiogenic factors.