Dr. Yuanyuan Zhang as a faculty is currently working in Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He has conducted research in stem cell, biomaterials, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine, particularly in urology for more than years. He was the first to demonstrate that stem cells exist in urine and that those cells (urine derived stem cells, USCs), with self-renewal and multipotent capacity, have a number of potential applications in cell-based therapy or noninvasive diagnosis in surgery or urology. He has a productive record of 123 original peer-reviewed research, review and chapter publications. In addition, he has received 14 patents for his work and applied for 2 more. As a PI, Dr. Zhang led NIH-funded studies in the fields at 1). Autogolous stem cells for urinary incontinence (2014, NIH R56); 2). Urinary tract tissue reconstruction with bone marrow stem cells (2006, NIH R21). Dr. Zhang has specific training and expertise in key research areas required for this application. He serves as an associate editor, guest editor or editorial board member for 17 medicine or biomedicine journals and a peer reviewer for 28 peer-reviewed journals in surgery, urology, andrology, tissue engineering, biomaterials, and the related fields.

Tissue specific stem cells, cell-based therapy, decellularized extracellular matrix biological scaffolds, microspheres for deliver growth factors, tissue engineering and regeneration, translational medicine