Xiaojun Lian

About

Xiaojun Lian is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Penn State University. His research focuses on cell and molecular bioengineering, with particular emphasis on stem cell differentiation, cardiovascular regeneration, and bioelectronic interfaces. He has contributed to the development of methods for programming human pluripotent stem cells into various cell lineages, including neutrophils, endothelial progenitors, and cardiomyocytes, utilizing chemically defined media and genome editing techniques. His work also involves engineering bio-optoelectronic stimulators for cardiac applications and advancing genome and RNA editing in human pluripotent stem cells. Dr. Lian's research aims to address challenges in regenerative medicine and develop innovative bioengineering solutions for tissue repair and disease modeling.

Research topics

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Materials science
• Chromatography
• Immunology
• Genetics
• Cancer research
• Nanotechnology
• Medicine
• Pathology

Selected publications

• Laser-induced graphene non-enzymatic glucose sensors for on-body measurements

  Biosensors and Bioelectronics · 2021 · 223 citations

  DOI

• CAR-neutrophil mediated delivery of tumor-microenvironment responsive nanodrugs for glioblastoma chemo-immunotherapy

  Nature Communications · 2023 · 192 citations

  Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most aggressive and lethal solid tumors in human. While efficacious therapeutics, such as emerging chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells and chemotherapeutics, have been developed to treat various cancers, their effectiveness in GBM treatment has been hindered largely by the blood-brain barrier and blood-brain-tumor barriers. Human neutrophils effectively cross physiological barriers and display effector immunity against pathogens but the short lifespan and res…

  DOI

• Sequence-Specific Recognition of HIV-1 DNA with Solid-State CRISPR-Cas12a-Assisted Nanopores (SCAN)

  ACS Sensors · 2020 · 117 citations

  Nucleic acid detection methods are crucial for many fields such as pathogen detection and genotyping. Solid-state nanopore sensors represent a promising platform for nucleic acid detection due to its unique single molecule sensitivity and label-free electronic sensing. Here, we demonstrated the use of the glass nanopore for highly sensitive quantification of single-stranded circular DNAs (reporters), which could be degraded under the trans-cleavage activity of the target-specific CRISPR-Cas12a.…

  DOI

• Engineering chimeric antigen receptor neutrophils from human pluripotent stem cells for targeted cancer immunotherapy

  Cell Reports · 2022 · 99 citations

  Neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cells in circulation, are closely related to cancer development and progression. Healthy primary neutrophils present potent cytotoxicity against various cancer cell lines through direct contact and via generation of reactive oxygen species. However, due to their short half-life and resistance to genetic modification, neutrophils have not yet been engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to enhance their antitumor cytotoxicity for targeted immun…

  DOI

• Bioprinted optoelectronically active cardiac tissues

  Science Advances · 2025-01-24 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access

  Electrical stimulation of existing three-dimensional bioprinted tissues to alter tissue activities is typically associated with wired delivery, invasive electrode placement, and potential cell damage, minimizing its efficacy in cardiac modulation. Here, we report an optoelectronically active scaffold based on printed gelatin methacryloyl embedded with micro-solar cells, seeded with cardiomyocytes to form light-stimulable tissues. This enables untethered, noninvasive, and damage-free optoelectron…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Stem cell immunoengineering for universal cardiac therapy via CRISPR-Cas9

  NIH · $567k · 2018–2022

• DREAM Sentinels: Multiplexable and programmable cell-free ADAR-mediated RNA sensing platform (cfRADAR) for quick and scalable response to emergent viral threats

  NSF · $700k · 2024–2026

• CAREER: Enhancing Stem Cell Differentiation with CRISPR Activators via Non-integrating Methods

  NSF · $500k · 2020–2025

Frequent coauthors

• Sean P. Palecek

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  60 shared

• Xiaoping Bao

  46 shared

• Timothy J. Kamp

  University of Wisconsin–Madison

  41 shared

• Kunil Raval

  Howard University Hospital

  39 shared

• Gisela F. Wilson

  38 shared

• Jianhua Zhang

  37 shared

• James A. Thomson

  Morgridge Institute for Research

  37 shared

• Junying Yu

  37 shared

Labs

• Biomedical Engineering LaboratoryPI

Education

• PhD, Chemical and Biological Engineering

  University of Wisconsin Madison

  2012

• Bioengineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering

  Zhejiang University

  2006

Similar researchers at Pennsylvania State University

• Xiao Liuh-70
• William Hancockh-40
• Yuguo Leih-32