Jianping Fu
University of Michigan

Editor, Cell Biophysics
Biophysical Journal

What are you currently working on that excites you?

I’m particularly excited about the emerging field of stem cell–based human embryo models, which serve as valuable in vitro tools for studying human development and disease. Developed from human pluripotent stem cells, these models mimic key aspects of early human development. Over the past decade, we and others have focused on creating various models to recapitulate stages from pre-implantation to gastrulation and early organogenesis. With proper bioengineering controls, these models are proving effective for exploring cellular behaviors and the genetic and signaling interactions driving embryogenesis. My group is currently working on models that replicate the formation of organ primordia from different germ layer lineages and using them to investigate fundamental questions about signaling and genetic mechanisms and biomechanical feedback in early human development. I’m eager to see what the next decade brings for this field.

What has been your most exciting discovery as a biophysicist?

The most exciting, as well as unexpected, discovery from my group so far is our finding of the intrinsic self-organizing properties and innate developmental potential of human pluripotent stem cells, which allow these cells to form multicellular structures and undergo spontaneous symmetry breaking to create patterned embryonic-like tissues, even when cultured under uniform conditions. Often, these patterned tissues can progressively develop from one developmental stage to the next, following the natural developmental program of a human embryo. My collaborators and I were extremely excited about these initial unexpected findings, and at that moment, I was convinced that stem cell–based human embryo models would become essential tools for advancing human developmental biology. Indeed, after these initial discoveries, I completely switched my research focus to stem cell–based embryo modeling and the study of human developmental biology.