Ngan F. Huang, Ph.D.

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Principal Investigator, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

Primary Research:

Dr. Huang’s laboratory investigates the interactions between stem cells and the extracellular matrix microenvironment for engineering cardiovascular tissues to treat cardiovascular diseases such as peripheral arterial disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm.  Research projects of interest include the effect of substrate stiffness on endothelial-to mesenchymal transition, engineering of vascularized spatially patterned cardiac muscle derived from pluripotent stem cells, development of shear-thinning hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties for enhancement of endothelial function in tissue ischemia, and the delivery of vascular progenitor cells within instructive scaffolds for enhancing elastogenicity of the aneurysmal aorta.

Lab Web Site: www.huanglab.stanford.edu

Members of the laboratory:

Karina H. Nakayama, PhD (Instructor)
Maureen Wanjare, PhD (Postdoc)
Esra Karaca, PhD (Postdoc)
Maedeh Zamani, PhD (Postdoc)
Mahdis Shayan, PhD (Postdoc)
Alex Chan, PhD (Postdoc)
Cynthia Alcazar, BS (Research Assistant and Lab Manager)
Caroline Hu, BS (Research Assistant)
Frank Charbonier, BS (Graduate Student)
Ada Undieh, BS (Graduate Student)

Recent Publications:

• Foster AA, Dewi RE, Cai L, Hou L, Strassberg Z, Alcazar CA, Heilshorn SC, Huang NF. Protein-engineered hydrogels enhance the survival of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial cells for treatment of peripheral arterial disease. Biomater Sci. 6:614-622, 2018
• Ma Z, Zhang M, Yue J, Alcazar C, Zhong Y, Doyle TC, Dai H, Huang NF. Near-Infrared IIb Fluorescence Imaging of Vascular Regeneration with Dynamic Tissue Perfusion Measurement and High Spatial Resolution. Adv Funct Mater 28: 1803417, 2018.
• Hou L, Yang G, Tang S, Alcazar C, Joshi P, Strassberg Z, Kim M, Kawamura M, Woo YJ, Shrager J, Ding S, Huang NF. A small molecule derived from carboxyethylpyrrole protein adducts promotes angiogenesis in a mouse model of peripheral arterial disease. JAHA 7(18):e009234, 2018.
• Zaitseva T, Alcazar C, Zamani M, Hou L, Sawamura S, Yakubov E, Hopkins M, Woo YJ, Paukshto M, Huang NF. Aligned Nanofibrillar Scaffolds for Controlled Delivery of Modified mRNA. Tissue Eng Part A. 2019 25:121-130.
• Nakayama KH, Alcazar C, Yang G, Quarta M, Paine P, Doan L, Davis A, Rando TA, Huang NF. Rehabilitative Exercise and Spatially Patterned Nanofibrillar Scaffolds Enhance Vascularization and Innervation Following Volumetric Muscle Loss. npj Regen Med, 3:16, 2018.
• Nakayama KH, Quarta M, Paine P, Alcazar C, Karakikes I, Garcia V, Abilez O, Calvo NS, Simmons CS, Rando TA, Huang NF. Treatment of Volumetric Muscle Loss Using Spatially Patterned Scaffolds Enhances Vascular Organization and Functional Integration. Commun Biol  2:170, 2019.