Engineering human in vitro models of physiology and diseases for precision medicine
Precision medicine aims to deliver personalized treatments to a given patient, necessitating an elucidation of the patient’s genetic makeup and the disease microenvironment. To obtain such understanding, experimental models that recapitulate human physiology and pathophysiology are needed, yet largely unavailable. The central goal of our work is to engineer and apply microfluidic organs-on-chips to first recreate in vitro tissue/disease models, then to unravel the mechanisms underlying tissue homeostasis, disease progression, and treatment resistance, and finally to screen therapeutic potential of novel treatments. Our research provides a blueprint for the development and leverage of tissue-engineered humanized in vitro platforms, which may enable a novel paradigm for drug discovery, development, and evaluation in a physiologically relevant context.
Chao Ma, PhD, is the Principal Investigator of the Ma lab in the Center for Immunotherapy & Precision Immuno-Oncology (CITI) at Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic.
The overarching research goals for his research team are to develop and leverage a multidisciplinary approach that combines engineering with biology and medicine for tissue engineering, disease modeling, and therapy screening, which aims to positively impact human healthcare and wellness.
Dr. Ma received his B.S. in Biotechnology in 2013 and Ph.D. in Animal Biotechnology (Cellular Engineering) in 2017, both from Northwest A&F University. Prior to his appointment at CITI, he was a Research Assistant Professor (2023-2024) and Postdoctoral Fellow (2017-2023) in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and an Adjunct Professor/Instructor (2023) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at New York University Tandon School of Engineering.
Dr. Ma has been awarded nationally and internationally, such as the National Scholarship for Encouragement Award from College of Innovation and Experiment, NWAFU (2013), National Scholarship for Graduate Students Award from the Ministry of Education, China (2016), Outstanding Graduates Award from College of Veterinary Medicine, NWAFU (2017), Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from Cancer Research Institute (2021), DMM Conference Travel Grant Award from the Company of Biologists (2021), Post-Doctoral Researcher Travel Award from the BMES-CMBE (2022), NSF I-Corps Award (2022), Tony B. Academic Award from the SLAS (2022&2024), and the Young Researcher Award from the Lush Prize (2024).
Appointed
2024
Education and Fellowships
Fellowship - New York University
Postdoctoral Fellow
New York, NY, USA
2017
Graduate - Northwest A&F University
Animal Biotechnology
Shaanxi, China
2013
Undergraduate - Northwest A&F University
Biotechnology
Shaanxi, China
2009
Awards & Honors
Memberships
Ma C, Wang H, Liu L, Tong J, Witkowski MT, Aifantis I, Ghassemi S, Chen W. A bioengineered immunocompetent human leukemia chip for preclinical screening of CAR T cell immunotherapy. Res Sq [Preprint]. 2023 Apr 21:rs.3.rs-2762929.
Liu L, Ma C, Zhang Z, Witkowski MT, Aifantis I, Ghassemi S, Chen W. Computational model of CAR T-cell immunotherapy dissects and predicts leukemia patient responses at remission, resistance, and relapse. J Immunother Cancer. 2022 Dec;10(12):e005360.
Ma C, Peng Y, Li H, Chen W. Organ-on-a-Chip: A New Paradigm for Drug Development. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2021 Feb;42(2):119-133.
Ma C, Witkowski MT, Harris J, Dolgalev I, Sreeram S, Qian W, Tong J, Chen X, Aifantis I, Chen W. Leukemia-on-a-chip: Dissecting the chemoresistance mechanisms in B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia bone marrow niche. Sci Adv. 2020 Oct 30;6(44):eaba5536.
Witkowski MT, Dolgalev I, Evensen NA, Ma C, Chambers T, Roberts KG, Sreeram S, Dai Y, Tikhonova AN, Lasry A, Qu C, Pei D, Cheng C, Robbins GA, Pierro J, Selvaraj S, Mezzano V, Daves M, Lupo PJ, Scheurer ME, Loomis CA, Mullighan CG, Chen W, Rabin KR, Tsirigos A, Carroll WL, Aifantis I. Extensive Remodeling of the Immune Microenvironment in B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Cell. 2020 Jun 8;37(6):867-882.e12.
Our education and training programs offer hands-on experience at one of the nationʼs top hospitals. Travel, publish in high impact journals and collaborate with investigators to solve real-world biomedical research questions.
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