Affiliation: University of Tsukuba Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo

Ge Jianyun is a PhD student at the Division of Gastroenterological and Hepatobiliary Surgery, and Organ Transplantation, University of Tsukuba. His research mainly focusses on developing humanized animal models and exploring alternative human cell sources for transplantation. He and his colleagues have achieved liver-humanization in a novel rat model in 2020. Additionally, the same team seeks to address the shortage of primary human hepatocytes by trying a variety of reprogramming strategies. Recently, they have achieved critical success in induction of expandable human hepatoblast-like cells from hiPSC by using specific small molecules, and confirm their in vivo repopulation and functions.