Defending PhD student, looking over their thesis: “If I knew then what I know now, I could’ve done all of this in like 9 months.”
A thread about my favorite pioneering cave explorers and why I don’t think AI will ever “solve” biology.
Happy holidays from the Han Lab! Celebrating a year of small wins, big milestones, and everything in between. Grateful for this team and looking ahead to the year to come.
This milestone reflects the support of incredible mentors, colleagues, trainees, and collaborators. I look forward to driving forward our work in skeletal muscle mechanobiology, bioengineering, and regenerative medicine, and through mentoring and training future scientists.
I am excited and honored to share my promotion to Associate Professor.
🚀 NY-CURES Launch — Championing State-Wide Investment in Science! 🚀
Our new coalition advocates for sustained public support of New York’s vibrant biomedical research ecosystem — creating cures, economic gains & strengthening communities.
Sign up. Stay informed. Join the movement: www.nycures.org/
Excited to share our new publication on mRNA-lipid nanoparticles for muscle regeneration! 💪🏼 Grateful for the guidance and teamwork that brought this project to life.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
This recognition is especially meaningful to me. As a PhD student and postdoc, I had the chance to work with former EIC Prof. Michael King as an assistant editor supporting this journal. Now, I am grateful to current EIC Prof. Ed Sander and the selection committee for this honor.
With mRNA LNPs, we show that muscle cells can locally produce native WNT7A, leading to myofiber hypertrophy and reduced fatty infiltration in preclinical models. This establishes mRNA delivery as a promising strategy for scalable and localized protein production in muscle regeneration.
This study, led by our superstar grad student Larion Santiago @thelaar.bsky.social, used a lipid nanoparticle (LNP) mRNA platform to deliver WNT7A as a proof of concept cargo. WNT7A is a powerful regulator of muscle, but recombinant protein therapy faces major hurdles in delivery and scalability.
In this work, we asked if muscle cells and fibers could be transformed into an “in vivo protein factory” capable of producing regenerative signals.
Our lab’s work is now published in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Journal, appearing in the 2025 Young Innovators Issue. I am excited to share it! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
@thesoor.bsky.social @thejooosh.bsky.social @thegaaa.bsky.social @thehaan.bsky.social @thelaar.bsky.social @themiiche.bsky.social
We’ve also had great news on the grant front, with strong scores on @thesoor.bsky.social’s F31 and our R01 grants. In the current climate, nothing’s certain, but we’re proud of the science and energized by the momentum. Grateful every day for this incredible team and all they bring.
Watching them grow reminds us that the future of medicine/biomedical research is in good hands, and that training the next generation is one of the most meaningful things we do.
First, it’s been a joy having Kelley Tu and Kelly Nguyen, two super star undergrads from Brown, join us this summer. Their curiosity, creativity, and steady drive brought so much to the lab.
In the Han Lab, we celebrate every win, big or small, and this season has given us plenty to appreciate. 🧵
Considerations of working with human primary muscle cells - happy to have contributed to this important topic. Thank you Tom Francis and Steve Harridge for inviting me and Casper Soendenbroe to join you!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Excited to announce I just posted a new preLight showcasing the work of @thegaaa.bsky.social in the lab of @thewooj.bsky.social on the effects of 3D confinement on muscle stem cell proliferation and differentiation using an asymmetric hydrogel bilayer model. Check out the post and their paper below:
Thank you for highlighting our work!
Thrilled to share that our work is featured on the Back Cover of Advanced Biology! This 3D confocal image by GaYoung Park @thegaaa.bsky.social captures muscle stem cells confined between two hydrogel layers with distinct properties.
Read more here: advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
I am so sorry Lesley
Finally, @thejooosh.bsky.social and I teamed up to co-moderate a session! /end
@thesoor.bsky.social gives a wonderful talks on FAP mechanobiology! We are really excited about this work - more coming soon.
@thegaaa.bsky.social shares our recent work on 3D confinement effects on muscle stem cell fate! Our full paper here: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40040295/
@thesoor.bsky.social shares his academic journey!
@thechaar.bsky.social presents our research on Piezo1-focal adhesion interactions to AndrĂ©s GarcĂa! An academic pedigree action shot.
@thelaar.bsky.social delivers masterful talk on mRNA LNPs!
@thesoor.bsky.social gets the honorable mentions at the 3MT competition!
Super proud of my trainees: 3 talks, 2 short talks, a poster, and co-moderating a session. Watching them grow into thriving scientists is hands-down the best part of this job. Action shots below 📸
