Meet Inspiring Speakers and Experts at our 3000+ Global Conference Series Events with over 1000+ Conferences, 1000+ Symposiums
and 1000+ Workshops on Medical, Pharma, Engineering, Science, Technology and Business.

Explore and learn more about Conference Series : World's leading Event Organizer

Back

Xiao-Dong Chen

Xiao-Dong Chen

Professor
University of Texas Health Science Center
USA

Biography

Xiao-Dong Chen, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor (tenured) in the Department of Comprehensive Dentistry and Chief of the Regenerative Medicine Program in the School of Dentistry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr Chen’s group was the first to establish a culture system, using cell-free native ECM made by bone marrow stromal cells, for rapidly growing large numbers of high-quality non-hematopoietic stem cells (NHSCs) from various sources, including bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. To closely replicate the tissue specific microenvironment (niche) ex vivo, Dr. Chen and his team have extended their technology by developing a variety of 3D tissue-specific scaffolds for facilitating stem cell-based applications such as: 1) rejuvenating NHSCs from the elderly to establish a personal stem cell bank with large numbers of high-quality autologous cells for treating age-related diseases; 2) inducing NHSC differentiation into the salivary gland epithelial cell lineage for repairing damaged salivary gland; and 3) enhancing the efficacy of bone marrow-derived MSCs for treating community-acquired pneumonia. The cell culture technology has also been found to have other applications such as preserving pancreatic islet function, while reducing islet immunogenicity, for use in allograft transplantation to treat type I diabetes. Based on knowledge gleaned from studies of native tissue-specific ECMs (TS-ECMs), Dr. Chen’s group has been actively working on developing a series of defined tissue-specific ECMs to selectively control NHSC fate so that a homogenous population of committed cells (muscle, bone, cartilage, skin, etc) can be obtained for tissue regenerative purposes. To foster the translation of his laboratory discoveries, Dr. Chen co-founded a startup company in 2010 (StemBioSys, Inc.; www.stembiosys.com). During the last several years, the company has been developing technology for scaling up the production of stem cells for treating human diseases, and providing a unique platform for quickly developing broad collaborations with other research institutes and biotech companies for basic research and clinical applications.

Research Interest

Reconstitute tissue-specific stem cell niche in vitro to control stem cell fate for tissue regenerative purposes.