2024

Lab-Grown Muscle Launched Into Space to Learn What Happens to Astronauts

Growing in enclosed chambers, supported on scaffolds made of collagen, the space cells formed shorter muscle fibers than cells in identical conditions on Earth. The changes in biology were similar to those in a disorder linked to age called sarcopenia, in which muscles weaken and waste away. 

“Microgravity does have profound effects on the body,” said Ngan Huang, a bioengineer at Stanford whose lab sent the samples to the space station and published the results of the experiment in the journal Stem Cell Reports in July. (August 28, 2024 - The Wall Street Journal)

Human muscle cells come back from space, look aged

It turns out that space triggers processes in human muscles that eerily resemble something we know very well: getting old. “We learned that microgravity mimics some of the qualities of accelerated aging,” said Ngan F. Huang, an associate professor at Stanford who led the study. (August 2, 2024 – Ars Technica)

Scientists test drugs to reverse muscle loss in space

“On earth, sarcopenia usually takes decades to develop [in individuals] and we think that microgravity may accelerate the disease process in orders of days,” says Dr Ngan F Huang, associate professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University. (July 26, 2024)

Podcast: Dr. Ngan F. Huang on muscles in microgravity

In this BBC-affiliated news podcast, Ngan F. Huang shares her team’s exciting opportunity to work with the International Space Station to engineer 'muscles on chips' in space to study muscle regeneration and aging. (July 26, 2024)

Space travel may make muscles age extremely quickly

We know that astronauts are at risk of losing bone density and muscle mass due to extremely low gravity in space. Now, Ngan Huang at Stanford University in California and her colleagues have analyzed the effects of microgravity on muscle cell genetics. (July 25, 2024)

ATVB In Focus: Pioneering Vascular Bioengineering with Dr. Ngan Huang

Ngan Huang, PhD, Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Stanford School of Medicine, was recently invited to contribute to the "ATVB In Focus Series" by the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.  (June 1, 2024)

Dr. Ngan F. Huang Inducted into the 2024 Class of the AIMBE College of Fellows

In a recent press release, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) announced the induction of Ngan F. Huang, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine to its College of Fellows. (March 28, 2024)

2023

Chronic nicotine exposure's interference with pluripotent stem cell treatment

A study led by senior author Dr. Ngan Huang investigated whether or not pluripotent stem endothelial cells would still be beneficial for treating peripheral atrial disease in nonideal lifestyles, such as tobacco use. (October 13, 2023)

Ngan Huang, PhD, featured along with other CVI Members as Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Celebrates Women in Medicine

September marks the American Medical Association’s Women in Medicine Month. We are proud to celebrate the accomplishments of all of our CVI members and women in medicine. They are blazing trails in basic, translational, and clinical cardiovascular research. (September 1, 2023)

Consider Fast Stress Relaxation for improved Tissue Engineering

Humans lack the ability to efficiently regenerate tissues and organs. Unfortunately, it is also relatively easy to lose human tissue or organs due to birth defects, disease, or sudden trauma. One new area of scientific work that would have potential in addressing this need is tissue engineering. The use of biomaterial (material that can interact with the body’s system) can create functional tissues to repair, restore, or replace damaged tissue or organs. This area has especially grown in the last few years with growth of the stem cell field, as stem cells can develop into many different types of cells. Additionally, tissue engineering provides an environment to test potential new drugs on disease, an area that could be critical for improving the current treatment development pipeline. (April 18, 2023)

2022

July

Dr. Huang gives a talk at the International Space Station Research & Development Conference about initial data derived from her engineered muscle in space studies (She is the second speaker on the recorded session).

February

Dr. Huang is a guest on the DG Early Morning Show podcast!

2021

December

Our lab's research in treating abdominal aortic aneurysms using stem cells and biomaterials was highlighted in the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Fall Quarterly.

November

Dr. Huang was interviewed by the Video Journal of Regenerative Medicine (VJRegenMed), which provides expert insights on the key advances in cellular & genomic therapy, tissue engineering and biomaterials.  Dr. Huang spoke briefly about several topics, which can be seen below:

September

Our lab's research that was sent to the International Space Station was featured in the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Summer Quarterly.

August

Huang lab sends engineered skeletal to space to explore microgravity effects on sarcopenia!  Our tissue chips launched to the International Space Station, where astronauts are helping us perform studies.  Dr. Huang summarizes the goals of this project in this interview.

This launch was also publicized in various media outlets, including these ones below:

Stanford Scope Blog

Wired Magazine

US Department of Veteran Affairs

Space.com

NSF/ISS Media Briefing: Science in Space

Syfy

 

Astronaut Meghan McArthur performs experiments on our engineered muscle chips aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA.

2020

September

Dr. Huang is interviewed by CNN’s Ashley Strickland about the laboratory’s tissue engineering research on the International Space Station.  She is interviewed alongside space astronauts Jessica Meir and Drew Morgan.

Our lab's recent publication to develop scaffold-based gene therapy for treatment for peripheral arterial disease was featured on the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute news.

August

Our lab's recent publication to develop an improved adult stem cell-based treatment for peripheral arterial disease was featured on the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute news.

2019

October

As part of Peer Review week, editorial board member Dr. Huang was interviewed by Nature Research editors regarding the characteristics of high quality peer review critiques.  

Congratulations to Maureen Wanjare for her publication in engineering spatially patterned vascularized cardiac patches for treatment of heart repair.

Here is the accompanying media coverage about Maureen’s publication at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute website.

As part of International Women in Engineering Day, we report on the activities of various members of the Tissue Engineering special interest group of the Society for Biomaterials.

July

Dr. Huang’s lab was featured as the Lab Spotlight at the North America Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO) website.

June

This month we celebrate International Women in Engineering Day. See Dr. Huang’s contribution to the Nature Research Bioengineering blog.

May

Check out the Scope blog regarding our recent publication in the engineering of vascularized skeletal muscle.

Here is the accompanying media coverage of our work at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute website.

February

Dr. Huang was featured in an interview in the eCirculator, a publication produced by the International Society for Applied Cardiovascular Biology (ISACB), where she is the Membership Chair.

Check out the Nature Research Bioengineering Community blog on our latest publication: Treatment of volumetric muscle loss in mice using nanofibrillar scaffolds enhances vascular organization and integration.

2018

August

Check out NSF’s press release about the Huang lab as one of two groups to be funded by the first solicitation release of NSF/CASIS Collaboration on Tissue Engineering on the International Space Station to Benefit Life on Earth Solicitation

May

Ngan Huang interviewed Steve Quake on "Genomic Tools for Cardiovascular Medicine" at the Vascular Discovery 2018 meeting.

January

Ngan Huang was selected to the Editorial Board of the new Nature journal, Communications Biology

The Huang lab was awarded a new grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine for treating abdominal aortic aneurysm using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived smooth muscle progenitors. Read about it here.

The Huang lab was awarded a finalist of RegenMedNet’s spotlight on laboratories that cultivate excellence.  Read the blog here.

2017

September

Ngan Huang was selected to be a part of the Young Innovator Issue from the journal, Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering.  You can read her contribution to this journal, featuring the work of postdoctoral fellow Joseph Kim in the endothelial differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells in 3D anisotropic nanofibrillar scaffolds. Read it here

August

We are honored that the national veteran publication, Veterans Affairs Research Currents, featured two veteran undergraduates in our lab, Nick Mezak and Nick McMenomy and their interest in biomedical research.  Read it here

July

Ngan Huang is selected as part of the Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigators issue .  This issue features the work of postdoctoral fellow Maureen Wanjare in engineering anisotropic cardiac patches. Read it here

Postdoc fellow Luqia Hou’s publication in Sci Rep is featured in the Stanford Scope Blog.  Read it here

2016

June

Along with our collaborators Stanley Rockson and Fibralign Corporation, we published the findings of a porcine study evaluating the therapeutic efficacy and safety of nanofibrillar scaffolds that release vascular endothelial growth factor-C for treatment of lymphedema.

This publication received some press from Stanford School of Medicine as well as other media outlets.

May

Karina Nakayama and Ngan Huang were featured in the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute 2016 Spring Quarterly Report for their recent publication in Nano Letters

2015

Ngan Huang was selected to receive the McCormick Gabilan Faculty Fellowship. This award is intended to support the advancement of women, and mentoring of women to pursue the study of medicine and medical research.

Karina Nakayama was featured in the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute 2015 Summer Quarterly Report for her recent publication in ACS Nano.

Veteran undergraduate researcher Nicholas Mezak was featured in the Veterans resource publication, G.I. Jobs, for his research in the Huang lab.  Nick strives to inspire other Veterans to pursue research biomedical careers. 

Ngan Huang gave an invited lecture at a STEM Seminar Series at Cañada College on “Stem Cell Approaches to Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering”

The Huang lab was featured in the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute 2014 Winter Quarterly Report.  The article discusses new collaborative research project between the Huang and Heilshorn labs.

2014

In collaboration with Fibralign Corporation, the team received the 2014 Best New Investigator Award at the 11th Biennial National Lymphedema Network International Conference for our work on “A Promising Surgical Procedure For Treating Secondary Lymphedema” using a biomaterials-based strategy. 

Ngan Huang was featured in The Science Runway, a website designed to inspire girls to pursue careers in medicine and science.

2012

Ngan Huang was awarded the Robert W Hobson II MD Early Career Investigator Award at the American Heart Association Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease.

Congratulations to Ngan Huang on her Nature Medicine paper with Hongjie Dai’s group. NIR-II imaging allows for precise blood velocity measurements in addition to high spatial and temporal resolution. Media coverage can be found here.