Research Summary

My lab studies how the different cell types in the liver, in particular the hepatocyte, are generated during development, patterned and maintained during adulthood, and regenerate after injury. Our long-term goals are to improve the understanding of liver disease pathophysiology and develop novel methods of treatment for liver diseases, including cell replacement therapy. Currently, we have two major research focuses: 1) understanding the biology of adult hepatocyte stem cells and 2) developing a liver cell atlas. We take innovative and integrated approaches to address these two areas using the tools of stem cell biology, developmental biology, genomics and tissue engineering.

I also study the porphyrias, a group of inherited diseases related to defects in heme synthesis pathway. I am a member of the Porphyrias Consortium, a NIH sponsored Rare Disease Clinical Research Consortium. The purpose of the network is to integrate translational studies of the porphyrias with clinical trials testing new therapeutics.

Research Funding

  • February 1, 2023 - January 31, 2028 - Characterizing zonated hepatocyte sexual dimorphism and its role in fatty liver disease , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK131227
  • April 1, 2023 - March 31, 2027 - Mechanisms of Intercellular Heme Homeostasis in Liver , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK134783
  • October 1, 2022 - - Single cell characterization and organoid development of pediatric hepatoblastoma , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: DoD, Sponsor Award ID: RA210018

Education

Stanford University, B.A.S., 06/2000, Philosophy, Biological Sciences
University of California San Francisco, MD, 06/2007, Medicine

Honors & Awards

  • 2004-2005
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship for Medical Students
  • 2005-2006
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship for Medical Students Continued Research Support
  • 2005-2007
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship for Medical Students Continued Medical Education Support
  • 2006
    Dean’s Prize in Research, University of California San Francisco
  • 2007-2014
    Molecular Medicine Fellow, University of California San Francisco
  • 2009-2010
    Clinical Fellow Award, UCSF Gastroenterology Division
  • 2016-2021
    Career Award for Medical Scientists, Burroughs Wellcome Fund

Selected Publications

  1. Taylor SA, Bader GD, MacParland S, Mullen AC, Andrews T, Cuenca AG, DasGupta R, Gehring AJ, Grün D, Guilliams M, Gulamhusein A, Henderson NC, Hirschfield G, Huppert SS, Itzkovitz S, Jiang ZG, Lauer GM, McGilvray I, Mysore KR, Pirola CJ, Quon G, Rahbari M, Regev A, Ricciuto A, Scott CL, Sharma A, Sookoian S, Tana MM, Teichmann SA, Vallier L, Vlachos IS, Wang B, Zhen M Towards a reference cell atlas of liver diversity over the human lifespan.  View on PubMed
  2. Tabula Microcebus Consortium, Ezran C, Liu S, Chang S, Ming J, Botvinnik O, Penland L, Tarashansky A, de Morree A, Travaglini KJ, Zhao J, Wang G, Hasegawa K, Sin H, Sit R, Okamoto J, Sinha R, Zhang Y, Karanewsky CJ, Pendleton JL, Morri M, Perret M, Aujard F, Stryer L, Artandi S, Fuller MT, Weissman IL, Rando TA, Ferrell JE, Wang B, De Vlaminck I, Yang C, Casey KM, Albertelli MA, Pisco AO, Karkanias J, Neff N, Wu AR, Quake SR, Krasnow MA A molecular cell atlas of mouse lemur, an emerging model primate.  View on PubMed
  3. Ezran C, Liu S, Chang S, Ming J, Guethlein LA, Wang MFZ, Dehghannasiri R, Olivieri J, Frank HK, Tarashansky A, Koh W, Jing Q, Botvinnik O, Antony J, Tabula Microcebus Consortium, Pisco AO, Karkanias J, Yang C, Ferrell JE, Boyd SD, Parham P, Long JZ, Wang B, Salzman J, De Vlaminck I, Wu AR, Quake SR, Krasnow MA Mouse lemur cell atlas informs primate genes, physiology and disease.  View on PubMed
  4. Merati M, Jayakumar N, Kapoor Y, Naik H, Balwani M, Anderson KE, Bonkovsky HL, Desnick RJ, McGuire B, Phillips J, Bissell DM, Wang B A Prospective, Blinded Study of Symptom Prevalence and Specificity of Porphyrin Precursors in Carriers of Acute Hepatic Porphyria.  View on PubMed
  5. Rademaker G, Hernandez GA, Seo Y, Dahal S, Miller-Phillips L, Li AL, Peng XL, Luan C, Qiu L, Liegeois MA, Wang B, Wen KW, Kim GE, Collisson EA, Kruger SF, Boeck S, Ormanns S, Guenther M, Heinemann V, Haas M, Looney MR, Yeh JJ, Zoncu R, Perera RM. PCSK9 drives sterol-dependent metastatic organ choice in pancreatic cancer. Nature. 2025 May 21.  View on PubMed
  6. Levy C, Naik H, Overbey J, Hedstrom K, Wang K, McDonough C, Freeman M, Keel SB, Erwin AL, Dickey AK, Leaf RK, Quigley J, Mazepa M, Wang B, Phillips J, Parker C, McGuire B, Kazamel M, Bonkovsky H, Rudnick S, Anderson KE, Moghe A, Thapar M, Saberi B, Wheeden K, Desnick R, Balwani M, Porphyrias Consortium of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network. Liver involvement in a large cohort of patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria or X-linked protoporphyria. Hepatol Commun. 2025 Mar 01; 9(3).  View on PubMed
  7. Kim JJ, Kurial SNT, Choksi PK, Nunez M, Lunow-Luke T, Bartel J, Driscoll J, Her CL, Dhillon S, Yue W, Murti A, Mao T, Ramos JN, Tiyaboonchai A, Grompe M, Mattis AN, Syed SM, Wang BM, Maher JJ, Roll GR, Willenbring H. AAV capsid prioritization in normal and steatotic human livers maintained by machine perfusion. Nat Biotechnol. 2025 Jan 29.  View on PubMed
  8. Bhasuran B, Schmolly K, Kapoor Y, Jayakumar NL, Doan R, Amin J, Meninger S, Cheng N, Deering R, Anderson K, Beaven SW, Wang B, Rudrapatna VA. Reducing diagnostic delays in acute hepatic porphyria using health records data and machine learning. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025 Jan 01; 32(1):63-70.  View on PubMed
  9. Sardh E, Balwani M, Rees DC, Anderson KE, Jia G, Sweetser MT, Wang B. Long-term follow-up of givosiran treatment in patients with acute intermittent porphyria from a phase 1/2, 48-month open-label extension study. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2024 Oct 03; 19(1):365.  View on PubMed
  10. Alkhani A, Baskaran S, Murti A, Rapp B, Levy CS, Wang B, Nijagal A. Perinatal liver inflammation is associated with persistent elevation of CXCL10 and its canonical receptor CXCR3 on common myeloid progenitors. bioRxiv. 2024 Aug 19.  View on PubMed
  11. Liu S, Ezran C, Wang MFZ, Li Z, Awayan K, Tabula Microcebus Consortium, Long JZ, De Vlaminck I, Wang S, Epelbaum J, Kuo CS, Terrien J, Krasnow MA, Ferrell JE. An organism-wide atlas of hormonal signaling based on the mouse lemur single-cell transcriptome. Nat Commun. 2024 Mar 11; 15(1):2188.  View on PubMed
  12. Lissing M, Wang B, Wahlin S. Liver transplantation and primary liver cancer in porphyria. Liver Int. 2025 Mar; 45(3):e15894.  View on PubMed
  13. COVID Tissue Atlas Consortium, Granados AA, Bucher S, Song H, Agrawal A, Chen AT, Peng T, Neff N, Pisco AO, Huang F, Wang B. Single-nuclei characterization of pervasive transcriptional signatures across organs in response to COVID-19. Elife. 2023 10 13; 12.  View on PubMed
  14. Bhasuran B, Schmolly K, Kapoor Y, Jayakumar NL, Doan R, Amin J, Meninger S, Cheng N, Deering R, Anderson K, Beaven SW, Wang B, Rudrapatna VA. Reducing diagnostic delays in Acute Hepatic Porphyria using electronic health records data and machine learning: a multicenter development and validation study. medRxiv. 2023 Aug 31.  View on PubMed
  15. Levy C, Dickey AK, Wang B, Thapar M, Naik H, Keel SB, Saberi B, Beaven SW, Rudnick SR, Elmariah SB, Erwin AL, Goddu RJ, Hedstrom K, Leaf RK, Kazamel M, Mazepa M, Philpotts LL, Quigley J, Raef H, Ungar J, Anderson KE, Balwani M, Porphyrias Consortium of the Rare Diseases Clinical Network. Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and management of protoporphyria-related liver dysfunction in erythropoietic protoporphyria and X-linked protoporphyria. Hepatology. 2024 03 01; 79(3):731-743.  View on PubMed
  16. Wang B, Bonkovsky HL, Lim JK, Balwani M. AGA Clinical Practice Update on Diagnosis and Management of Acute Hepatic Porphyrias: Expert Review. Gastroenterology. 2023 03; 164(3):484-491.  View on PubMed
  17. Liu J, Tran V, Vemuri VNP, Byrne A, Borja M, Kim YJ, Agarwal S, Wang R, Awayan K, Murti A, Taychameekiatchai A, Wang B, Emanuel G, He J, Haliburton J, Oliveira Pisco A, Neff NF. Concordance of MERFISH spatial transcriptomics with bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing. Life Sci Alliance. 2023 01; 6(1).  View on PubMed
  18. Balwani M, Naik H, Overbey JR, Bonkovsky HL, Bissell DM, Wang B, Phillips JD, Desnick RJ, Anderson KE. A pilot study of oral iron therapy in erythropoietic protoporphyria and X-linked protoporphyria. Mol Genet Metab Rep. 2022 Dec; 33:100939.  View on PubMed
  19. Brenner DM, Brandt LJ, Fenster M, Hamilton MJ, Kamboj AK, Oxentenko AS, Wang B, Chey WD. Rare, Overlooked, or Underappreciated Causes of Recurrent Abdominal Pain: A Primer for Gastroenterologists. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023 02; 21(2):264-279.  View on PubMed
  20. Zhang MJ, Hou K, Dey KK, Sakaue S, Jagadeesh KA, Weinand K, Taychameekiatchai A, Rao P, Pisco AO, Zou J, Wang B, Gandal M, Raychaudhuri S, Pasaniuc B, Price AL. Polygenic enrichment distinguishes disease associations of individual cells in single-cell RNA-seq data. Nat Genet. 2022 10; 54(10):1572-1580.  View on PubMed

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