Research fields: Cell mechanics, mechanomedicine, stem cell mechanobiology and tumor mechanobiology.

Published 12 SCI papers in journals such as Science Advances, Nature Communications, Nature Materials, Nature Protocols and Cell Research. Has holds 6 patents for anti-cancer drugs.

Our researches are mainly engaged in regulating fate of tumor and embryonic stem cell by mechanical signals, mainly including:

1. To explore the mechanism of mechanical force signal rapid entry into the nucleus and selectively activate gene expression by using magnetic tweezer cytometry;

2. Inducing orderly differentiation of embryonic stem cell embryo layer via simulating mechanical microenvironment, applied for regenerative medicine research;

3. Regulating the differentiation and metastasis of tumor stem cells via mechanical microenvironment of tumor.

4. Screening and optimizing anti-tumor drugs based on the concept of mechanomedicine.

5. To investigate the mechanism of tumor stem cell escaping immune cell killing and explore new tumor immunotherapy strategies

Representative publications:

1.      Sun J^$, Chen JW^$, Mohagheghian E, Wang N^*.  Force induced gene upregulation does not follow the weak power law but depends on H3K9 demethylation. Science advances，6, 14, eaay9095,2020.  ^$Co-first authors. ^*Corresponding senior author.

2.      Chen JW^$, Cao X^$, An Q, Zhang Y, Li K, Yao W, Shi F, Pan Y, Jia Q, Zhou W, Yang F, Wei F, Wang N^*, Yu B^*. Inhibition of cancer stem cell like cells by a synthetic retinoid. Nature Communications Apr 11; 9 (1):1406, 2018.  ^$Co-first authors.  ^*Co-Corresponding author

3.      Tan Y^$, Tajik A^$, Chen JW^$, Jia Q, Chowdhury F, Wang L, Junjian Chen JJ, Zhang S, Ying Hong Y, Yi H, Wu DC, Zhang Y, Wei F, Poh YC, Seong J, Singh R, Lin LJ, Doğanay S, Li Y, Jia H, Ha T, Wang Y, Huang B, Wang N^*. Matrix softness regulates plasticity of tumour-repopulating cells via H3K9 demethylation and Sox2 expression. Nature Communications. 5: 4619, 2014. ^$Co-first authors.^*Corresponding senior author.

4.      J Chen, N Wang. Tissue cell differentiation and multicellular evolution via cytoskeletal stiffening in mechanically stressed microenvironments. Acta Mechanica Sinica, 2018

5.      Mohagheghian E, Luo J, Chen JW, Chaudhary G, Chen J, Sun J, Ewoldt RH, Wang N^*. Quantifying compressive forces between living cell layers and within tissues using elastic round microgels. Nature Communications. May 14; 9(1):1878, 2018.

6.      Zhang Y, Wei F, Poh YC, Jia Q, Chen J, Chen J, Luo J, Yao W, Zhou W, Huang W, Yang F, Zhang Y, Wang N. Interfacing 3D magnetic twisting cytometry with confocal fluorescence microscopy to image force responses in living cells. Nature Protocols 12, 1437–1450, 2017.

7.      Ma J, Zhang Y, Tang K, Zhang H, Yin X, Li Y, Xu P, Sun Y, Ma R, Ji T, Chen JW, Zhang S, Zhang T, Luo S, Jin Y, Luo X, Li C, Gong H, Long Z, Lu J, Hu Z, Cao X, Wang N, Yang X, Huang B. Reversing drug resistance of soft tumor-repopulating cells by tumor cell-derived chemotherapeutic microparticles. Cell Research 26(6):713-27, 2016.

8.      Poh YC, Chen JW, Ying Hong Y, Yi H, Zhang S, Chen JJ, Wu DC, Wang L, Jia Q, Singh R, Yao W, Tan Y, , Tajik A, Tanaka TS, Wang N^*.Generation of organized germ layers from a single mouse embryonic stem cell. Nature Communications. May 30; 5:4000, 2014.^*Corresponding senior author. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5000.

9.     Liu J^$, Tan Y^$, Zhang H, Zhang Y, Xu P, Chen JW, Poh YC, Tang K, Wang N^*, Huang B^*. Soft fibrin gels promote selection and growth of tumorigenic cells.  Nature Materials. Published online July 1, 11(8):734-41, 2012. ^$Co-first authors.  ^*Co-corresponding senior authors.