Bishuang Cai, PhD

Bishuang Cai, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received her PhD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she studied endocytic trafficking, in 2013. She then joined Dr. Ira Tabas’s lab at Columbia University Irving Medical Center as a postdoctoral research scientist to pursue translational research with an emphasis on macrophage biology in cardiometabolic diseases. Her current research focuses on defective inflammation resolution in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and NASH-related cardiometabolic diseases.

Inflammation resolution is mediated by specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) such as lipoxins, resolvins, protectins, and maresins. These resolving mediators block inflammatory cell influx and promote the egress of inflammatory cells, serving to limit tissue damage and to enable tissue repair. However, inflammation resolution becomes defective in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and atherosclerosis. We aim to elucidate the mechanisms of dysregulated SPM biosynthesis in macrophages and its consequences to NASH/atherosclerosis and identify unique pathways that hold promise for future therapies. Another focus in the lab is on the mechanistic studies of genetic variants of NASH/ atherosclerosis. The laboratory applies technologies such as transgenic mouse models, human genetics, single-cell RNA sequencing, and a variety of cell and molecular techniques.

Lab website: Bishuang Cai Laboratory