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Ryang Hwa Lee, Ph.D.

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Ryang Hwa Lee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine

5701 Airport Road, Module C
Temple, TX 76502
Phone: 254-771-6821
Fax: 254-771-6839
Email: rlee@medicine.tamhsc.edu

Education and Post-Graduate Training

Ryang Hwa Lee is an Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine located in Temple, Texas. Dr. Lee received her B.S. in Microbiology in 1997 and Master’s degree in Medicine from Pusan National University School of Natural Science in 1999. She earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from Pusan National University Medical School in 2003 working with Dr. Jin Sup Jung on the characterization of human adipose & bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells.

In 2003, she joined the Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University Health Sciences Center, as a post-doctoral fellow working with Dr. Darwin Prockop on mesenchymal stem cells from human bone marrow. She came to the Institute for Regenerative Medicine with the Texas A&M Health Science Center in 2008 as a Research Scientist. Dr. Lee joined the faculty of Texas A&M University System Health Science Center in 2009.

Research Interests

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have attracted attention in efforts to develop cell therapies, because they are readily obtained from patients, expanded in culture and exhibit stem-like properties to differentiate into multiple cellular phenotypes. Currently, MSCs are employed in a large series of clinical trials in heart disease, Crohn’s disease, cartilage repair, stroke, spinal cord injury and several other diseases. However, clinical trials will require additional information about the most effective cells to employ, the optimal route of administration and -most importantly- the mechanisms whereby the cells repair injured tissues. This group specializes in determining the cellular and molecular mechanisms of beneficial effects of MSCs in diseases that include heart disease, diabetes, and peritonitis. The goal is to develop a cellular therapy for human diseases either (a) with adult stem/progenitor cells (MSCs), or (b) with therapeutic factors that MSCs produce in response to signals from injured tissues.

Selected Publications

Lee, R.H., Pulin, A.A. Seo, M.J., Kota, D.J. Ylostalo, J., Larson, B.L., Semprun-Prieto, L., Delafontaine, P., and  Prockop, D. J. (2009) Intravenous hMSCs Improve Myocardial Infarction in Mice Because Cells Embolized In Lung Are Activated to Secrete the Anti-Inflammatory Protein TSG-6. Cell Stem Cell 5:1-10.

Lee, R.H., Seo M.J., Pulin A.A., Gregory C.A., Ylostalo, J., and Prockop, D.J. (2009) The CD34-like protein PODXL and α6-integrin (CD49f) identify early progenitor MSCs with increased clonogenicity and migration to infracted heart in mice. Blood 113(4):816-826.

Lee, R.H., Seo, M.J., Reger, R.L., Spees, J.L., Pulin, A.A., Olson S.D., and Prockop, D.J. (2006) Multipotent stromal cells from human marrow home to and promote repair of pancreatic islets and perhaps renal glomeruli in diabetic NOD/scid mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:17438-17443.

Lee, R.H., Hsu, S.C., Munoz, J., Jung, J.S., Lee, N.R., Pochampally, R., and Prockop, D. J. (2006) A subset of human rapidly-self renewing marrow cells (MSCs) preferentially engraft in mice. Blood 107:2153-2161

Lee, R.H., Kim, B.C., Choi, I.S., Choi, H.S., Suh, S.Y., Suh, K.T., Bae, Y.C., and Jung, J.S. (2004) Characterization and expression analysis of Mesenchymal stem cells from human bone marrow and adipose tissue. Cell Physiol Biochem 14(4-6):311-324.

Lee, R.H. Song, J.M., Park, M.Y., Kang, S.K., Kim, Y.K., and Jung, J.S. (2001) Cisplatin-indeced apoptosis by translocation of endogenous Bax in mouse collecting duct cells. Biochem Pharmacol 62:1013-1023.