Post-doctor Lei Mingxing from the School of Bioengineering appointed as the reviewer of Science
Recently, Post-doctor Lei Mingxing from the School of Bioengineering of Chongqing University is appointed by Science an international leading academic journal, as an official reviewer of the journal.
Lei Mingxing has been a student of Professor Yang Li of the School of Bioengineering from postgraduate student, to doctoral candidate and then to postdoctoral researcher. Lei is mainly engaged in research of skin and hair follicle regeneration. Supported by the “111 Program”, the team led by Professor Yang Li has been in a long-term cooperation relation with the team led by Academician Zhong Zhengming from the Medicine School of University of Southern California, a well-known expert in regenerative medicine in the world. The cooperation has been fruitful. Led by Professor Yang Li, Academician Zhong Zhengming and other experts, Dr. Lei Mingxing has published more than 30 papers in world famous journals such as Science and PNAS as the first author or the corresponding author, and is acting as the official reviewer of more than 10 SCI journals including Cell Reports and the top journal in the dermology area Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Since the team of Professor Yang Li and the team of Academician Zhong Zhengming started the cooperation, they have made considerable progress in the skin and hair follicle regeneration area. In February 2016, Lei Mingxing published an opinion research paper on Science as the first author. The paper discusses alopecia resulting from deterioration of regeneration capacity of the hair follicle stem cell when the expression of in-cell transcription factor and extracellular environment factor is changed in the process of aging of mammals.
In August 2017, PNAS published an original research paper with Dr. Lei Mingxing as the first author and Professor Yang Li and Academician Zhong Zhengming as the joint corresponding author. This paper gives an introduction to how the stem cells turn into the skin and hair follicle organoid through self-organization. It also discusses how the discrete skin cells of neonatal mouse form hair follicles through 6 different stages in the in vitro 3-D culturing: 1) Discrete cells; 2) Cell aggregate; 3) Polarized cell aggregate; 4) United cell aggregate; 5) Complete skin; 6) Skin with hair germs. The cytology and molecular mechanism of the cell self-organization are studied through technologies such as RNA-seq and time-lapse photography. The skin organoid, after transplantation of nude mouse, may regenerate a great amount of hair. What’s worth mentioning is that by learning from the self-organizing capacity of neonatal mouse, the research team has succeeded in inducing skin cell of adult mouse that has lost the regeneration capacity to regain regeneration capacity. The paper with Chongqing University and University of Southern California as the joint corresponding author has won extensive media coverage at home and abroad thanks to its achievements in regeneration area and organoid research. CNBC, a world leading media in finance and economy, published an extended article to introduce the great breakthrough in the tissue engineering of skin and hair follicle regeneration, and the considerable contribution to clinical application in the future.
In recent years, the Innovation and Intelligence Introduction Base for Biomechanics and Tissue Repairing Engineering Discipline under “111 Program” has been actively cooperating with foreign organizations and has made noticeable progress in disciplinary construction in the biomechanics, clinical medicine and other areas for the School of Bioengineering. Through international cooperation, it has also gathered a number of top-level oversea talents, and greatly improved its disciplinary innovation capacity. The achievements made in talent cultivation and teaching staff building is particularly predominant, with a number of international leading teams and outstanding talents cultivated and high-level research findings achieved. The appointment of Dr. Lei Mingxing of CQU as an official reviewer of Science indicates that the research efforts of Dr. Lei Mingxing in the regenerative medicine area are recognized and the life science research of Chongqing University at the international research fronts is highly appreciated.
Fig.: The skin cells form an organoid in the process of in vitro 3D culturing. After transplantation of mouse, a lot of hair follicle structures are regenerated.
