Lab Members

Stanley Ningshan Liu graduated from Xi’An Medical University (China) in medicine. He received his DAcHM from Five Branches University and his MSOM from Dongguk University. He is a research associate IV and the laboratory manager, responsible for animal care and in vivo experiments, including various mouse lung injury models. He researches, develops and implements new laboratory procedures and protocols, and contributes to project planning, troubleshooting and execution across multiple research efforts. His projects also include investigating the role of WNT signaling in lung fibrosis, utilizing various mouse models. He also helps the PIs with laboratory safety and regulatory compliance, including IACUC protocols and related institutional requirements.

Anas Rabata received his PhD degree in biomedical sciences, with a specialization in cell and tissue morphology, from the Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Czech Republic. He investigates the role of AT2 cells in IPF using patient-derived samples, cell lines and mouse models. His specific project focuses on phospholipid metabolism in AT2 cells and the role of lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 (LPCAT1) in maintaining AT2 progenitor function during IPF. In parallel, he is establishing AT2 cell lines from both healthy and IPF-derived lung tissues. This work includes optimizing 2D and 3D culture systems that support long-term self-renewal and directed differentiation.

Dan Li received her PhD degree in molecular pharmacology from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She is currently working on the role of transcriptional regulation (especially AP-1 signaling) in inflammaging in AT2 cells in aging and progressive lung fibrosis. Her projects also include drug screening using expression-based, high-content screening platforms, screening compounds that mediate AT2 regenerative capacity. She works on a range of experimental models—including in vitro primary cell cultures, organoids and precision-cut lung slices (PCLS)—and integrates both patient-derived and mouse samples to investigate the molecular mechanisms driving age-related lung fibrosis.

Weini Li received her PhD degree in regenerative medicine from the Institute of Zoology of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. She develops CRISPR-mediated, expression-based, high-content screening platforms, screens compounds that mediate AT2 regenerative capacity, participates in the protein structure modeling and molecular docking for the design and optimization of candidate compounds, and validates using physiological, biochemical and functional assays in primary human and mouse AT2 systems. Her projects also include to investigate the role of WNT signaling in regulation of AT2 fate in IPF, utilizing patient-derived samples, established cell lines and mouse models.

Yujie Qiao is an MD candidate from Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. Her projects and research interests are to elucidate the pathogenesis of IPF, mainly focusing on the role of epithelial cells in IPF. The overall research goal is to identify potential targets or pathways related to IPF and evaluate their possibility for future application in IPF patients.

Haohua Huang is a PhD candidate from Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. His research projects focus on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), epithelial injury-repair dynamics and single-cell multi-omics analysis. The research goal is to elucidate key regulatory pathways driving fibrosis progression and to explore novel therapeutic targets for IPF.