Meet the Fan Lab

Dr. Xiaohong Wang

Dr. Xiaohong Wang, Research Scientist (email: wang2xn@ucmail.uc.edu), graduated from Qinghai Medical College. She has been in Dr. Fan’s laboratory since 2007 and published 34 peer-reviewed papers.  Dr. Xiaohong Wang has extensive expertise in animal models, animal surgery of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) and cardiac ischemia/reperfusion, in vivo and ex vivo myocardial function measurement, isolation of cardiac endothelial cells, fibroblasts, myocytes, and bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) for cell culture. Specifically, Dr. Wang has investigated the role of miRNAs and exosomes in I/R-induced cardiac injury and diabetic cardiomyopathy, which resulted in dozens of first-authored or co-authored papers. Her publication can be found in the PubMed. Currently, she is a lab manager and involved in multiple research projects and animal surgery.

Dr. Debabrata Chowdhury

Dr. Debabrata Chowdhury, Research Scientist (email: chowdhda@ucmail.uc.edu) received his M.S. degree from Vidyasagar University, and Ph.D. degree from the CSIR-IICT, India. Subsequently, he completed his first post-doc training in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and second post-doc training in Stanford University. In August 2023, Dr. Chowdhury joined the Fan lab working on several projects about macrophage efferocytosis during cardiac ischemia/reperfusion, and vascular leakage during septic shock. Dr. Chowdhury has a strong background in Immunology and has extensive experience in the study of cardiac remodeling, using in vitro cell culture and in vivo animal models.

Dr. Jade Yu Zhang

Dr. Jade Yu Zhang, Post-doc fellow (email: zhang8yu@ucmail.uc.edu).  Dr. Zhang received her medical degree in Clinical Medicine from Yanbian University and M.S. degree from Zunyi Medical University. She has been working in the field of cardiovascular research since 2019 and has extensive experience in studying revascularization after cardiac infarction. She is an exceptional scholar who exhibits a deep passion for her project.  In May 2023, she joined the Fan lab and participated in several projects including: 1) probiotic bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs) regulate macrophage efferocytosis during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion and its underlying mechanism; 2) LCN10-mediated promotion of macrophage efferocytosis in cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury and repair, using the in vitro cell model and in vivo transgenic/knockout mouse models.

Dr. Tianyuan Yang

Dr. Tianyuan Yang, Post-doc fellow ( yangt3@ucmail.uc.edu).  Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. degree in Veterinary Surgery from Northeast Agricultural University. Dr. Yang has excellent background in the fields of molecular biology and immunology. In addition, he has extensive expertise in investigating inflammation-induced organ injury. Dr. Yang recently joined the Fan lab in January 2025 and focuses on elucidating the regulatory role of Leng9 and Lcn10 in macrophage phagocytosis and polarization, sepsis-triggered systemic and local inflammation as well as cardiac dysfunction, using the in vitro cell model and in vivo transgenic/knockout mouse models.

Dr. Mingliang (Felix) Pan

Dr. Mingliang (Felix) Pan, Visting scholar (email: panmi@ucmail.uc.edu). Felix is an intelligent and motivated individual with a very good work ethic and creativity. He received his bachelor’s in clinical medicine from Hubei University of Science and Technology and now is a Master student of critical care medicine program, Wuhan University. In June 2024, he joined the Fan lab for his thesis project to investigate the role of CPNE5 in sepsis diagnosis and sepsis-induced vascular leakage, using human patient samples, in vitro cell culture, in vivo septic mouse models, Immuno-staining, ELISA, RT-qPCR, RNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis.

Zhixin (Jim) Li

Zhixin (Jim) Li, Research Assistant (email: li4zi@mail.uc.edu). Mr. Li received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Denison University, OH, in 2023. Subsequently, he was admitted to the master program of Molecular Cellular and Biochemical Pharmacology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and graduated in December 2024. Now he is recruited to the Fan laboratory as research assistant and works with Dr. Wang and Dr. Zhang to involve multiple projects including: 1) bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs) deliver short non-coding RNAs to macrophages and regulate gene expression in macrophages to boost efferocytosis; 2) Leng9 regulates macrophage efferocytosis in mouse ischemic/reperfused hearts, using transgenic and knockout mouse models.