Xiaodong Liu

Currently, iPSCs play a crucial role in disease modeling, drug screening, and in cell therapies, and regenerative medicine. However, somatic cell reprogramming technology faces challenges such as low induction efficiency, residual epigenetic memory, and potential tumorigenicity, significantly hindering its translational application​.

To address these challenges, Xiaodong Liu has been dedicated to deeply analyzing the underlying molecular mechanisms of reprogramming and has achieved a series of breakthroughs. He established methods for the direct induction of various pluripotent stem cell states and identified core fate-switching transcription factors. This study was the first to reveal that cell fate is regulated to an early embryonic state during reprogramming. Subsequently, leveraging the discovery of multiple cell lineages during reprogramming, he constructed the first complete 3D blastocyst-like structure, the world's first blastocyst-like structure developed from skin cells.

Based on single-cell transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses of cell fate regulation during reprogramming, he established methods for the direct induction of trophoblast stem cells and new reprogramming methods that eliminate epigenetic memory and abnormalities, potentially addressing challenges in the industrialization of iPSCs.