How liver scar‑forming cells remember past injury
Official title: Hepatic stellate cell plasticity and maladaptive fibrogenic memory in chronic liver disease
Funded at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · NIH-11290373 · Data updated 2026-11-12
The team is looking at how scar‑forming cells in the liver change after repeated injury to help people with chronic liver disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2023 |
| Project end | February 29, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $592,181 |
| NIH project number | 5R01DK136016-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11290373 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with chronic liver disease or liver fibrosis (and people able to donate liver tissue or samples) would be most relevant to this research.
✕Less likely to help
People without chronic liver disease or with conditions unrelated to liver fibrosis are unlikely to benefit directly from this basic lab research.
What this research studies
They use a new mouse model where liver scar‑forming cells (hepatic stellate cells) are injured, allowed to recover, and then re‑injured so researchers can watch long‑term changes. The lab profiles individual cells' gene activity and chromatin using single‑cell methods and low‑input chromatin assays (including ATAC‑seq) to read DNA methylation and other epigenetic marks. By comparing cells before and after fibrosis regression, they aim to identify the molecular “memory” that makes these cells overreact to repeat injury. Those molecular clues could point to ways to reset or block the maladaptive response.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could point to new ways to prevent or reverse liver scarring and slow or stop progression of chronic liver disease.
How similar studies have gone: Prior laboratory studies, including the team's published work, support an epigenetic role in cell memory, but turning these findings into treatments for people remains unproven.
Where this research is happening
-
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Shuang — Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Study coordinator: Wang, Shuang
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.