Jian Huang, PhD

Recently, Jian Huang, PhD, has focused his research on skeletal diseases, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. He is working on identifying the functional roles of two microRNAs, miR-204 and miR-211, in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Starting from selecting promising candidates from hundreds of microRNAs, his team performs molecular and cellular work in mesenchymal stem cells, and construct and analyze mouse models that have the microRNA genes deleted. His team’s work has shown that both microRNAs are essential in maintaining joint homeostasis and their losses result in osteoarthritis. In the long term, Huang’s lab plans to leverage the experiences and resources gained from the current project to add new insights to stem cell biology, develop additional disease models and invent new therapeutic strategies.