Date: May 21th, 2020
Source: School of Medicine

Researcher Lan Yu's team in JNU's School of Medicine has made new progress in research on human macrophage development. The study has been published in Nature Communications under the title Deciphering Human Macrophage Development at Single-Cell Resolution. Bian Zhilei, a postdoctoral researcher, in the School of Medicine is first author; Lan and Liu Bing, a researcher and Pearl River Scholar chair professor at JNU, are co-corresponding authors.
 

(The research published in Nature Communications)
Research on the origin and development of human macrophages has always been difficult because they are rare and cannot be tagged in early development. After years of hard work, Lan's team has found the golden key to unveiling a mystery that has long puzzled the scientific community: single-cell omics technology.
 

Cell observation and discussion (Bian Zhilei, left; Lan Yu, center, and Liu Bing)
This research not only solved the core problem of the origins and specialization of tissue-resident macrophages, but also evaluated the molecular process of their gradual transformation from the single-cell level. The results provide valuable data for life science research and may also bring breakthroughs in understanding and progress in the diagnosis and treatment of macrophage-related diseases.
 

Major scientific discoveries (upper left: sample collection; upper right: YSMP differentiation potential; left lower: primitive macrophage; low right: process of specialization)
The research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Pearl River Talent Program of Guangdong.
 

Group discussion: from left: Postdoctoral researcher Hou Siyuan, Liu Bing, Lan Yu,  Bian Zhilei, Dr. Huang Tao and Dr. Yandong Gong)
Original link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2316-7