Ray (Yu-Hao) Cheng earned his M.D. from National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan, in 2016, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2023 under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Cahan. During his M.D., Ray focused on biomedical engineering studies, particularly on delivering multipotent bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) into decellularized liver scaffolds to generate functional liver tissue (Biomaterials, 2014).
For his Ph.D., Ray applied computational strategies to understand cell state transitions and identify critical gene regulatory elements, particularly in the context of mesenchymal cells during joint development (Development, 2020), endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (Advanced Functional Materials, 2022), and multipotency regulation in adult BMSCs (under review, 2024). His key findings included identifying the TEAD family of transcription factors as key regulators of multipotency in murine adult BMSCs. Pharmacological inhibition of TEAD enhanced BMSC osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, whereas its activation maintained BMSCs in an undifferentiated state.
Ray joined Dr. David Scadden’s lab as a post-doctoral research fellow in June 2024. His current research focuses on the erythropoietic niche, with a particular interest in the impact of exercise and aging. Ray aims to apply advanced computational tools to dissect single-cell and spatial-omics data to uncover the erythropoietic niche differences during normal aging and the impact of moderate exercise on erythropoiesis. This research explores the therapeutic potential for treating anemia in the elderly.