Dr. Kelley Yan is a physician-scientist with a background in clinical gastroenterology, structural biology and stem cell biology. The Yan laboratory at Columbia focuses on understanding tissue renewal in health and disease using the mammalian intestine as a model system to study adult stem cell biology.
The intestinal epithelium is the most rapidly self-renewing tissue in mammals and its vigorous regeneration is enabled by highly active intestinal stem cells. We aim to understand the behavior of intestinal stem cells and how to manipulate them for therapeutic benefit.
Research Highlights
Stem cell self-renewal versus differentiation
Non-equivalence of Wnt and R-spondin ligands during Lgr5+ intestinal stem-cell self-renewal. (Yan et al, Nature, 2017)
Commentary: Huels DJ, Sansom OJ. R-spondin Is More Than Just Wnt's Sidekick. Developmental Cell. 2017 June 5; 41(5):456-458. PMID:28586642.
Cellular origins and lineage relationships
Cellular origins and lineage relationships of the intestinal epithelium (Capdevila et al., Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol., 2021)
Intestinal Enteroendocrine Lineage Cells Possess Homeostatic and Injury-Inducible Stem Cell Activity (Yan et al., Cell Stem Cell, 2017)
Commentary: van der Heijden M, Vermeulen L. Stem Cells: All that is Solid Melts into Air. Cell Stem Cell. 2017 July 6; 21(1):5-7.