Personal profile

He is currently a professor and doctoral supervisor of Sun Yat-sen School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, winner of Outstanding Young Scientific Fund of Foundation Committee (2021) and National High-level Talent Introduction Young Project (2017), Young Chief Scientist of National Key Research and Development Program (2018), and Leading Medical Talent of Guangdong Province (2018). In 2007, he received his bachelor's degree from School of Life Sciences, Wuhan University. He received his Ph.D. in Cell biology from Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. He has been a postdoctoral fellow at the J. David Gladstone Institutes at the University of California, San Francisco since 2012. In 2017, he was hired by Sun Yat-sen University to introduce talents.
He is mainly engaged in the research on the mechanism of cardiovascular cell fate regulation and the development of new strategies/drugs for cardiac regeneration and repair. Published 19 research papers as the first/corresponding author (including co-authors), Published in Science, Cell Metabolism, Nat Biomed Eng., Cell Stem Cell, Cell Res. (3 papers), ACS Nano, Adv Sci. (3 papers), Circ Res., Nat Commun., Cell Rep. Etc. Average IF: 21.8/ article. 4 international PCT patents, 2 US patents, and 7 Chinese invention patents were applied for/authorized.

Academic achievement

Important academic research achievements and contributions
Heart disease is the number one killer of human health. Heart cells in patients with ischemic heart disease die in large numbers after the onset of the disease and do not regenerate naturally, leading to a gradual deterioration of heart function in patients, and eventually to end-stage heart disease and heart failure. To understand the regulatory mechanism of cardiac regeneration and repair and to promote the recovery of cardiomyocytes lost after myocardial infarction has become the main research goal of cardiac regenerative medicine. Our research group has been focusing on the mechanism of cardiovascular cell fate regulation and its application in the treatment of ischemic heart disease for many years, and has achieved a series of important research results. For the first time, skin cells have been directly reprogrammed into novel cardiovascular progenitor cells and cardiomyocytes using stem cells and chemical biology to improve infarct heart function (Nat Biomed Eng. 2022; Science 2016; Cell Stem Cell 2016); To establish a cardio-targeted drug delivery system and reveal the important role of sphingomyelin metabolism, lysosome activity, and cardiac beat rhythm in cardiac injury repair (Cell Metab. 2024; ACS Nano 2023; Cell Rep. 2022; Circ Res. 2020); The cardiotoxicity of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics was systematically evaluated and corresponding protective drugs were screened and developed (Adv Sci.2022; Commun Biol. 2022); Multiple pluripotent stem cell differentiation systems into cardiovascular (progenitor) cells were established, and the role of RNA m6A modification, protein homeostasia, and extracellular matrix in cardiac cell development was elucidated (Adv Sci.2023; Nat Commun. 2022; Adv Sci. 2021; Stem Cells 2019; Cell Res. 2011; 2012; 2013); The first large-scale expansion system of cardiovascular progenitor cells was established and applied to infarct heart repair (Cell Res. 2013; Cell Stem Cell 2016). The techniques developed for induction and culture of cardiovascular cells have been included in the classic textbook Methods in Molecular Biology. The research results were selected as the world's top ten scientific and technological progress selected by academicians of the two Chambers and won the second prize of the 2020 National Science and Technology Progress Award. He won the 2022 Outstanding Young Researcher Award for Stem Cells from the Chinese Society for Cell Biology.
A series of works that received extensive scientific and public media attention, It has been reported by more than 40 international and domestic media, including ABC News, Voice of America, News USA, Yahoo News, Science Daily, Science News, Biological Valley, Dingxiang Garden, etc. Highly cited paper by ESI and recommended by F1000. Many experts in Nature, Cell Stem Cell, Circ Res. And other famous journals have published special comments on the above achievements. He has presided over a number of state-level scientific research projects such as the National Key Research and Development Program, the National High-level Talent Introduction Youth Project, the National Natural Science Foundation and the Major Research Program.

Textbook monograph

Peer-Reviewed Research Articles (Corresponding or First Authors)

1. Ji X#, Chen Z#, Wang Q#, Li B, Wei Y, Li Y, Lin J, Cheng W, Guo Y, Wu S, Mao L, Xiang Y, Lan T, Gu S, Wei M, Zhang JZ, Jiang L, Wang J, Xu J, Cao N*. Sphingolipid metabolism controls mammalian heart regeneration. Cell Metab. 2024 Feb 7:S1550-4131(24)00017-2. (IF: 29.0/Q1).
2. Xu H#, You H#, Gong J#, Zhang Y#, Du J, Wang X, Gu S, Cao N*, Wang J*. Discovery of Zidovudine as a cardiomyocyte protectant for doxorubicin-induced toxicity through high-throughput phenotypic drug screening. Fundamental Res. 2023 Nov 19 doi.org/10.1016/j.fmre.2023.10.010. (IF: 6.2/Q1).
3. Liu F#, Liu Z#, Cheng W#, Zhao Q#, Zhang X, Zhang H, Yu M, Xu H, Gao Y, Jiang Q, Shi G, Wang L, Gu S, Wang J, Cao N*, Chen Z*. The PERK Branch of the Unfolded Protein Response Safeguards Protein Homeostasis and Mesendoderm Specification of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Adv Sci. 2023 Oct 27:e2303799. (IF: 17.5/Q1).
4. Liu X#, Liu Z#, Ren Z, Chen H, Zhang Y, Zhang Z*, Cao N*, Luo G*. Co-effects of m6A and chromatin accessibility dynamics in the regulation of cardiomyocyte differentiation. Epigenetics Chromatin. 2023 Aug 11;16(1):32. (IF: 5.5/Q1)
5. Ji X#, Meng Y#, Wang Q#, Tong T#, Liu Z, Lin J, Li B, Wei Y, You X, Lei Y, Song M, Wang L, Guo Y, Qiu Y, Chen Z, Mai B, Xie S*, Wu J*, Cao N*. Cysteine-based redox-responsive nanoparticles for fibroblast-targeted drug delivery in the treatment of myocardial infarction. ACS Nano 2023 Mar 28;17(6):5421-5434. (IF: 18.0/Q1).
6. Wang J#*, Wang Q, Cao N*. Generation of expandable cardiovascular progenitor cells from mouse and human fibroblasts via direct chemical reprogramming. STAR Protoc. 2022 Dec 16;3(4):101908.
7. Xu H#, Liu G #, Gong J#, Zhang Y#, Gu S#, Wan Z, Yang P, Nie Y, Wang Y, Huang Z, Luo G, Chen Z*, Zhang D*, Cao N*. Investigating and Resolving Cardiotoxicity Induced by COVID-19 Treatments Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes and Engineered Heart Tissues. Adv Sci. 2022 Sep 2;e2203388. (IF: 17.5/Q1).
8. Gu S#, Chen Z#, Meng X#, Liu G#, Xu H#, Huang L, Wu L, Gong J, Chen D, Xue B, Zhu L, Wan Z, Lin J, Cai X, Zhang X, Wang J, Zhang D*, Cao N*. Spike-based adenovirus vectored COVID-19 vaccine does not aggravate heart damage after ischemic injury in mice. Commun Biol. 2022 Sep 2;5(1):902. (IF: 6.5/Q1).
9. Wang J#, Gu S#, Liu F, Chen ZH, Xu H, Liu Z, Cheng W, Wu L, Xu T, Chen ZY, Chen D, Chen X, Zeng F, Zhao Z, Zhang M, Cao N*. Reprogramming of fibroblasts into expandable cardiovascular progenitor cells via small molecules in xeno-free conditions. Nat Biomed Eng. 2022 Apr;6(4):403-420. (IF: 29.2/Q1).
10. Tan J#, Yang M#, Wang H, Shen C, Wu M, Xu H, Wu Y, Li Y, Li X, Huang T, Deng S, Yang Z, Gao S, Li H, Zhou J, Chen H*, Cao N*, Cai W*. Moderate heart rate reduction promotes cardiac regeneration through stimulation of the metabolic pattern switch. Cell Rep. 2022 Mar 08;38(10):110468 (IF: 10.0/Q1).
11. Cheng W#, Liu F#, Ren Z, Chen W, Chen Y, Liu T, Ma Y, Cao N*, Wang J*. Parallel functional assessment of m6A sites in human endodermal differentiation with base editor screens. Nat Commun. 2022 Jan 25;13(1):478 (Featured articles, IF: 17.7/Q1).
12. Chen X#, Zhao Q#, Zhao Y#, Chai G, Cheng W, Zhao Z, Wang J*, Luo G*, Cao N*. Targeted RNA N6-Methyladenosine Demethylation Controls Cell Fate Transition in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Adv Sci. 2021 Jun;8(11): e2003902. (IF: 17.5/Q1).
13. Gu S, Tan J, Li Q, Liu S, Ma J, Zheng Y, Liu J, Bi W, Sha P, Li X, Wei M, Cao N*, Yang HT*. Downregulation of LAPTM4B Contributes to the Impairment of the Autophagic Flux via Unopposed Activation of mTORC1 Signaling During Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury. Circ Res. 2020 Sep 11;127(7):e148-e165 (IF: 23.2/Q1).
14. Han Z, Yu Y, Xu J, Bao Z, Xu Z, Hu J, Yu M, Bamba D, Ma W, Ding F, Zhang L, Jin M, Yan G, Huang Q, Wang X, Hua B, Yang F, Li Y, Lei L, Cao N*, Pan Z*, Cai B*. Iron Homeostasis Determines Fate of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Via Glycerophospholipids-Epigenetic Circuit. Stem Cells. 2019 Apr;37(4):489-503 (IF: 5.8/Q1).
15. Cao N, Huang Y, Zheng J, Spencer CI, Zhang Y, Fu JD, Nie B, Xie M, Zhang M, Wang H, Ma T, Xu T, Shi G, Srivastava D, Ding S*. Conversion of human fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes by small molecules. Science 2016 Jun 3;352(6290):1216-20 (IF: 63.7/Q1).
16. Zhang Y#, Cao N#, Huang Y, Spencer CI, Fu JD, Yu C, Liu K, Nie B, Xu T, Li K, Xu S, Bruneau BG, Srivastava D, Ding S*. Expandable cardiovascular progenitor cells reprogrammed from fibroblasts. Cell Stem Cell 2016 Mar 3;18(3):368-81 (IF: 25.3/Q1) (Featured article).
17. Cao N, Liang H, Yang HT*. Generation, expansion, and differentiation of cardiovascular progenitor cells from human pluripotent stem cells. Methods Mol Biol. 2015; 1212:113-25 (Book chapter).

Review Articles

1. Zeng N#, Tang W#, Wu Y, Fan H, Xie S*, Cao N*. Harnessing stem cell and lineage reprogramming technology to treat cardiac fibrosis. Cell Regen. 2023 Dec 11;12(1):39.
2. Huang L#, Wang Q#, Gu S, Cao N*. Integrated metabolic and epigenetic mechanisms in cardiomyocyte proliferation. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2023 Jun 16:S0022-2828(23)00103-7 (IF: 5.8/Q1).
3. Liu G, Fu J, Cao N*. Chemical evocation of human cell plasticity—twist of cell fates by small molecules. Life Med. 2022 Jun 28;lnac010, /doi.org/10.1093/lifemedi/lnac010.
4. Li G#, Liu Z#, Cao N*. Human pluripotent stem cell–based cardiovascular disease modeling and drug discovery. Pflug Arch. 2021 Jul;473(7):1087-1097 (IF: 4.5/Q2).
5. Li Q#, Wang J#, Wu Q, Cao N*, Yang HT*. Perspective on human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in heart disease modeling and repair. Stem Cell Transl Med. 2020 Oct;9(10):1121-1128. (IF: 7.7/Q1).
6. Tang S, Xie M, Cao N, Ding S*. Patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells for disease modeling and phenotypic drug discovery. J Med Chem. 2016 Jan 14;59(1):2-15 (IF: 8.0/Q1).
7. Xie M#, Cao N#, Ding S*. Small molecules for cell reprogramming and heart repair: progress and perspective. ACS Chem Biol. 2014 Jan 17;9(1):34-44 (IF: 4.6/Q2).
8. Cao N#, Liang H#, Huang J, Wang J, Chen Y, Chen Z, Yang HT*. Highly efficient induction and long-term maintenance of multipotent cardiovascular progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells under defined conditions. Cell Res. 2013 Sep;23(9):1119-32 (IF: 46.3/Q1).
9. Cao N, Liu Z, Chen Z, Wang J, Chen T, Zhao X, Ma Y, Qin L, Kang J, Wei B, Wang L, Jin Y, Yang HT*. Ascorbic acid enhances the cardiac differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells through promoting the proliferation of cardiac progenitor cells. Cell Res. 2012 Jan;22(1):219-36 (IF: 46.3/Q1).
10. Cao N#, Liao J#, Liu ZM, Zhu WM, Wang J, Liu LJ, Yu LL, Xu P, Cui C, Xiao L, Yang HT*. In vitro differentiation of rat embryonic stem cells into functional cardiomyocytes. Cell Res. 2011 Sep;21(9):1316-31 (IF: 46.3/Q1).

Peer-Reviewed Research Articles (Contributing Authors)

1. Liu J, Wang H, Xu D, Li Y, Fang J*, Zhang M, Xia Q, Huang Z, Cao N, Hu N*, Guo J*. High-throughput rhythmic regulation of cardiomyocytes by integrated electrical stimulation and video-based automated analysis biosensing platform. Biosens Bioelectron. 2022 Aug 1; 209:114252 (IF: 12.5).
2. Xu D, Fang J, Yadid M, Zhang M, Wang H, Xia Q, Li H, Cao N, Dvir T, Hu N*. A universal, multimodal cell-based biosensing platform for optimal intracellular action potential recording. Biosens Bioelectron. 2022 Feb 25; 206:114122 (IF: 12.5).
3. Zhang M, Xu D, Fang J, Li H, Li Y, Liu C, Cao N, Hu N*. A dynamic and quantitative biosensing assessment for electroporated membrane evolution of cardiomyocytes. Biosens Bioelectron. 2022 Jan 20; 202:114016 (IF: 12.5).
4. Peng Z, Wu J, Hu S, Ma A, Wang L, Cao N, Zhang Y, Li Q, Yu J, Meng S, Na T, Shi X, Li M, Liu H, Qian L, Tian E, Lin F, Cao J, Peng Y, Zhu H, Liang L, Hao J, Zhao T, Cheng X*, Pan G*. Requirements for primary human hepatocyte. Cell Prolif. 2021 Dec 22: e13147 (IF: 8.8).
5. Liu Z#, Xu D#, Fang J#, Xia Q, Zhong W, Li H, Huang Z, Cao N, Liu X*, Chen HJ*, Hu N*. Intracellular Recording of Cardiomyocytes by Integrated Electrical Signal Recording and Electrical Pulse Regulating System. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2021 Dec 15; 9:799312 (IF: 6.1).
6. Yu M, Lei W, Cao J, Wang L, Ma A, Zhao ZA, Yang HT, Shen Z, Lan F, Cao F, Liang P, Pei X, Xiang AP, Yu J, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Li Q, Zhou J, Wei J, Peng Y, Zhu H, Liang L, Cao N, Fu B, Hao J*, Zhao T*, Hu S*. Requirements for human cardiomyocytes. Cell Prolif. 2021 Oct 27:e13150 (IF: 8.8).
7. Tan L#, Cheng W#, Liu F, Wang DO, Wu L, Cao N, Wang J*. Positive natural selection of N6-methyladenosine on the RNAs of processed pseudogenes. Genome Biol. 2021 Jun 13;22(1):180 (IF: 17.9).
8. Li M, Huang H, Li L, He C, Zhu L, Guo H, Wang L, Liu J, Wu S, Liu J, Xu T, Mao Z, Cao N, Zhang K, Lan F, Ding J, Yuan J, Liu Y*, Ouyang H*. Core transcription regulatory circuitry orchestrates corneal epithelial homeostasis. Nat Commun. 2021 Jan 18;12(1):420 (IF: 17.7).
9. Sun X, Ren Z, Cun Y, Zhao C, Huang X, Zhou J, Hu R, Su X, Ji L, Li P, Mak KLK, Gao F, Yang Y, Xu H, Ding J, Cao N, Li S, Zhang W, Lan P, Sun H, Wang J*, Yuan P*. Hippo-YAP signaling controls lineage differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells through modulating the formation of super-enhancers. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Jul 27;48(13):7182-7196 (IF: 19.2).
10. Wang B#, Wang L#, Gu S, Yu Y, Huang H, Mo K, Xu H, Zeng F, Xiao Y, Peng L, Liu C, Cao N, Liu Y, Yuan J*, Ouyang H*. D609 protects retinal pigmented epithelium as a potential therapy for age-related macular degeneration. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2020 Mar 4;5(1):20 (IF: 38.1).
11. Hu JL#, Liang H#, Zhang H, Yang MZ, Sun W, Zhang P, Luo L, Feng JX, Bai H, Liu F, Zhang T, Yang JY, Gao Q, Long Y, Ma XY, Chen Y, Zhong Q, Yu B, Liao S, Wang Y, Zhao Y, Zeng MS, Cao N, Wang J, Chen W*, Yang HT*, Gao S*. FAM46B is a prokaryotic-like cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase essential in human embryonic stem cells. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Mar 18;48(5):2733-2748 (IF: 19.2).
12. Liu C, Hu X, Li Y, Lu W, Li W, Cao N, Zhu S, Cheng J, Ding S*, Zhang M*. Conversion of mouse fibroblasts into oligodendrocyte progenitor-like cells through a chemical approach. J Mol Cell Biol. 2019 Jan 10 (IF: 8.2).
13. Chen ZY, Chen F, Cao N, Zhou ZW, Yang HT*. miR-142-3p contributes to early cardiac fate decision of embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells Int. 2017; 2017:1769298 (IF: 5.1).
14. Xu T, Stewart K, Wang X, Liu K, Xie Min, Ryu JK, Li K, Ma T, Wang H, Ni L, Zhu S, Cao N, Don W, Zhang Y, Akassoglou K, Dong C*, Driggers EM*, Ding S*. Metabolic control of TH17 and induced Treg cell balance by an epigenetic mechanism. Nature 2017 Aug 10;548(7666):228-233 (IF: 69.5).
15. Zhang M, Lin YH, Sun YJ, Zhu S, Zheng J, Liu K, Cao N, Li K, Huang Y, Ding S*. Pharmacological reprogramming of fibroblasts into neural stem cells by signaling-directed transcriptional activation. Cell Stem Cell 2016 May 5;18(5):653-67 (IF: 25.3).
16. Ma T, Li J, Xu Y, Yu C, Xu T, Wang H, Liu K, Cao N, Nie B, Zhu S, Xu S, Li K, Wei W, Wu Y, Guan K, Ding S*. Atg5-independent autophagy regulates mitochondrial clearance and is essential for iPSC reprogramming. Nat Cell Biol. 2015 Nov;17(11):1379-87 (IF: 28.2).
17. Wang H, Cao N, Spencer CI, Nie B, Ma T, Xu T, Zhang Y, Wang X, Srivastava D, Ding S*. Small molecules enable cardiac reprogramming of mouse fibroblasts with a single factor, Oct4. Cell Rep. 2014 Mar 13;6(5):951-60 (IF: 10.0).
18. Wang J, Cao N, Yuan M, Cui HJ, Tang Y, Qin LJ, Huang XF, Shen N, Yang HT*. MicroRNA-125b/Lin28 pathway contributes to the mesendodermal fate decision of embryonic stem cells. Stem Cells Dev. 2012 Jun 10;21(9):1524-37 (IF: 4.4).
19. Liang J, Wang YJ, Tang Y, Cao N, Wang J, Yang HT*. Type 3 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor negatively regulates apoptosis during mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation. Cell Death Differ. 2010 Jul;17(7):1141-54 (IF: 12.1).