Lung Organoids: Miniature Lungs with Maximum Potential

Recapitulation of lung development from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) would allow deeper insight into human lung development, as well as the development of innovative strategies for disease modeling, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine. In this seminar, we will how we systematically differentiate hPSCs to lung organoids and, more importantly, their applications for translational medicine, as well as how we can use them to study Space lung biology!

Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, and Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Scientific Director for the Institute for Airway Sciences and the Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration at Mount Sinai. She also serves as the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Additionally, Ya-Wen is a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mount Sinai.

She pioneered the work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.

Ya-Wen received her Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She completed her postdoctoral work at the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology and the Columbia Center for Human Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She was a Parker B. Francis Fellow, Baxter Faculty Fellow, the Catalyst Awardee, and the Isidore Friesner Scholar.

Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQ rights!