Lianjie Miao
Assistant Professor
Education & Affiliations
Biography
Dr. Miao investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern cardiac morphogenesis and maturation, and how disruption of these processes contributes to congenital heart disease and impaired cardiac repair. His laboratory focuses on direct intercellular communication, cardiomyocyte behavior, cell–extracellular matrix interactions, and cardiac progenitor fate specification during heart development, postnatal maturation, and regeneration. Using mouse genetics, lineage tracing, super-resolution imaging, and single-cell approaches, his group seeks to define how cellular behaviors and signaling interactions are coordinated across the developing and regenerating heart. Dr. Miao’s work identified tunneling nanotube-like structures that bridge the myocardial and endocardial cells and support long-range signaling during heart formation. He also demonstrated that β1 integrin–mediated adhesion to the extracellular matrix maintains cardiomyocyte shape and organization and is required for normal ventricular wall morphogenesis. Dr. Miao is a recipient of the American Heart Association Second Century Early Faculty Independence Award.
Selected Publications
Miao L, Nusrat A, Li J, Yin C, Lu Y, Kuang X, Sun D, Lo E, Song R, Huang W, Long X, McConnell BK, Singer HA, Schwartz RJ, Gunaratne P, Fan ZC, Kumar A, Zhou B, Munshi N, Evans SM, Wu M. Distinct populations of vascular smooth muscle and sinoatrial progenitors are localized adjacent to pro-epicardium. Cell Reports. 2025 Nov 18;44(12):116580. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116580.
Miao L, Lu Y, Nusrat A, Fan G, Zhang S, Zhao L, Wu CL, Guo H, Huyen TLN, Zheng Y, Fan ZC, Shou W, Schwartz RJ, Liu Y, Kumar A, Sui H, Serysheva II, Burns AR, Wan LQ, Zhou B, Evans SM, Wu M. Tunneling nanotube-like structures regulate distant cellular interactions during heart formation. Science. 2025 Mar 14;387(6739):eadd3417. doi: 10.1126/science.add3417.
Miao L, Lu Y, Nusrat A, Zhao L, Castillo M, Xiao Y, Guo H, Liu Y, Gunaratne P, Schwartz RJ, Burns AR, Kumar A, DiPersio CM, Wu M. β1 integrins regulate cellular behaviour and cardiomyocyte organization during ventricular wall formation. Cardiovascular Research. 2024 Sep 21;120(11):1279-1294. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvae111.
Miao L#, Li J#, Li J, Lu Y, Shieh D, Mazurkiewicz JE, Barroso M, Schwarz JJ, Xin HB, Singer HA, Vincent PA, Zhong W, Radice GL, Wan LQ, Fan ZC, Huang G, Wu M. Cardiomyocyte orientation modulated by the Numb family proteins-N-cadherin axis is essential for ventricular wall morphogenesis. PNAS. 2019 Jul 30;116(31):15560-15569. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904684116.
Li J#, Miao L#, Zhao C, Shaikh Qureshi WM, Shieh D, Guo H, Lu Y, Hu S, Huang A, Zhang L, Cai CL, Wan LQ, Xin H, Vincent P, Singer HA, Zheng Y, Cleaver O, Fan ZC, Wu M. CDC42 is required for epicardial and pro-epicardial development by mediating FGF receptor trafficking to the plasma membrane. Development. 2017 May 1;144(9):1635-1647. doi: 10.1242/dev.147173.
Complete Publication Profiles
