Biography

National Taiwan University, Taiwan , BS Microbiology & Plant Pathology 1999

University of Pennsylvania, USA, MS Biotechnology 2002

University of Pennsylvania, USA, PhD Bioengineering 2006

University of Pennsylvania, USA, Postdoctoral Fellow Medicine and Engineering 2012

Awards and Honors

2018 - Leif B. Sorensen Faculty Research Award University of Chicago

2019 - Young Investigator Award (First Place) CAAC-ATVB Symposium

2020 - B. Lowell Langille Vascular Biology Lectureship University of Toronto

Research interests

My research foci are mechano-transduction mechanisms by which cells sense and convert environmental mechanical stimuli into biological signaling and novel nanomedicine approaches that target dysregulated mechano-sensing pathways. Cellular mechanotransduction is instrumental to embryogenesis and physiological control of tissue homeostasis; abnormal cell responses to mechanical forces promote pathologies associated with numerous human diseases. This is especially important in the vasculature, where environmental mechanical stimuli produce cellular responses in endothelial cells at arterial curvatures and bifurcations by locally disturbed blood flow to induce atherosclerosis. A similar cascade appears to be induced in acute lung injury where it is the increased cyclic stretch that is the trigger. My research program at the University of Chicago focuses on the molecular understanding of endothelial homeostasis governed by mechanical forces, with emphasis upon regulation of non-coding genome, transcription factors, G protein signaling, and genetic variance. Another major research goal is to develop innovative nanomedicine-based therapeutic strategies to treat dysregulated mechano-sensing mechanisms causing vascular diseases. Key Words: microRNA, non-coding RNA, human genetics, enhancer biology, vascular biology, nanotechnology, nanomedicine, mechanotransduction, atherosclerosis, acute lung injury

Selected publications

Nguyen T, Zheng M, Knapp M, Sladojevic N, Zhang Q, Ai L, Harrison D, Chen A, Sitikov A, Shen L, Gonzalez FJ, Zhao Q, Fang Y, Liao JJK, Wu R. Endothelial Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Nuclear Translocator Mediates the Angiogenic Response to Peripheral Ischemia in Mice With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021; 9:691801. View in: PubMed

Wu D, Harrison DL, Szasz T, Yeh CF, Shentu TP, Meliton A, Huang RT, Zhou Z, Mutlu GM, Huang J, Fang Y. Single-cell metabolic imaging reveals a SLC2A3-dependent glycolytic burst in motile endothelial cells. Nat Metab. 2021 May; 3(5):714-727. View in: PubMed

Wu D, Lee TH, Huang RT, Guzy R, Schoettler N, Adegunsoye A, Mueller J, Husain A, Sperling A, Mutlu GM, Fang Y. SARS-CoV-2 Infection is Associated with Reduced Krüppel-Like Factor 2 in Human Lung Autopsy. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2021 May 10. View in: PubMed

Harrison DL, Fang Y, Huang J. T-Cell Mechanobiology: Force Sensation, Potentiation, and Translation. Front Phys. 2019 Apr; 7. View in: PubMed

Lee YV, Wu D, Fang Y, Peng Y, Tian B. Tracking Longitudinal Rotation of Silicon Nanowires for Biointerfaces. Nano Lett. 2020 05 13; 20(5):3852-3857. View in: PubMed

Mehta V, Pang KL, Rozbesky D, Nather K, Keen A, Lachowski D, Kong Y, Karia D, Ameismeier M, Huang J, Fang Y, Del Rio Hernandez A, Reader JS, Jones EY, Tzima E. The guidance receptor plexin D1 is a mechanosensor in endothelial cells. Nature. 2020 02; 578(7794):290-295. View in: PubMed

Fang Y, Wu D, Birukov KG. Mechanosensing and Mechanoregulation of Endothelial Cell Functions. Compr Physiol. 2019 03 15; 9(2):873-904. View in: PubMed

Krause MD, Huang RT, Wu D, Shentu TP, Harrison DL, Whalen MB, Stolze LK, Di Rienzo A, Moskowitz IP, Civelek M, Romanoski CE, Fang Y. Genetic variant at coronary artery disease and ischemic stroke locus 1p32.2 regulates endothelial responses to hemodynamics. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 11 27; 115(48):E11349-E11358. View in: PubMed

Allon M, Litovsky SH, Tey JCS, Sundberg CA, Zhang Y, Chen Z, Fang Y, Cheung AK, Shiu YT. Abnormalities of vascular histology and collagen fiber configuration in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. J Vasc Access. 2019 Jan; 20(1):31-40. View in: PubMed

BPHYS Student

Devin Harrison