University of Alabama at Birmingham · Biomedical EngineeringCardiac Regeneration and Repair Lab
Jianyi Zhang · Birmingham, Alabama
Research Focus
Dr. Jianyi Zhang's research focuses on understanding how heart cells can grow and repair themselves after injuries, like those caused by heart attacks. His lab studies various biological processes that allow these cells to re-enter the cycle of growth, with the goal of developing new therapies to regenerate heart tissue. By exploring innovative techniques such as genetic engineering and advanced cell culture methods, they aim to create solutions that could one day improve outcomes for heart patients.
cardiomyocyte proliferationremuscularizationmyocardial infarctiontissue engineeringcardiac cell therapyneovascularizationSonic Hedgehogcell cycle regulationhypoxiahiPSC-CMs
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate the mechanisms that allow heart cells to proliferate after injury.
AIM 02Develop human cardiac muscle patches using induced pluripotent stem cells.
AIM 03Explore genetic pathways that can stimulate heart cell growth.
AIM 04Assess the role of oxygen metabolism in heart cell repair.
AIM 05Evaluate strategies for transplanting engineered heart tissues into injured hearts.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturegene editingviral vector engineeringmolecular cloninganimal modelshistologyimmunofluorescenceRNA sequencingbioinformaticscardiac tissue engineering
Output against the department
Publications529top 14% of dept.81st of 595
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations17ktop 21% of dept.125th of 595
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.