Following tissue injury, the inability of the heart to adequately replace damaged cells results in a deleterious process of molecular and structural remodeling, ultimately causing chronic cardiac dysfunction. Recent advances in stem cell biology coupled with the discovery of resident progenitor cells in adult mammalian tissues have provided the first opportunities to reverse deleterious cardiac remodeling through stimulation of cardiac regeneration.

Our research laboratory attempts to bridge the growing span between basic bench research and clinical care, with a goal of rapid translation of scientific observations. We employ an integrated approach, combining molecular studies with intensive investigation of cardiovascular function in whole animals, isolated myocardium and single cardiac cells.

Current ongoing efforts in our laboratory focus on elucidating the mechanisms, metabolic regulation, and therapeutic potential of cardiac regeneration using stem/progenitor cells from cardiac and extra-cardiac sources, including bone marrow. Recent work has demonstrated that terminally-differentiated organs, such as the heart, are continuously undergoing cellular turnover with differentiation of tissue-specific progenitor cells. Our laboratory has identified and characterized a specific subpopulation of progenitor cells within adult myocardium, termed ‘side population cells’ and characterized by a distinct Hoechst dye efflux pattern on FACS analysis. Furthermore, we have shown that these progenitor cells are capable of functional differentiation into cells indistinguishable from endogenous adult cardiomyocytes. Our current research focuses on understanding the specific signaling pathways that regulate cardiac stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the normal heart, as well as following injury, and developing approaches to manipulate and promote cardiac regeneration in vivo.



Bio-sketch

Dr. Liao is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Biophysics and subsequently pursued her postdoctoral research with Drs. Judith Gwathmey and Joanne Ingwall at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, investigating cardiac physiology in animal models of heart disease. She began her independent research career at Boston University and returned to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where she serves as Director of the Cardiac Muscle Research Laboratory and Director of the Cardiac Physiology and FACS Core facilities.