Check out two new BioRxiv manuscripts from Xinyue Liu

Xinyue Liu, a third-year PhD candidate, recently wrote and submitted her first and second first-author manuscripts to bioRxiv! These are currently under review but catch an early sneak peek before they are officially published. Click on each link below.

FAP-intrinsic Hedgehog signaling controls intramuscular adipogenesis, fibrosis, and myofiber regeneration | bioRxiv: Xinyue found that FAPs are the primary cellular mediators of Hedgehog signaling during muscle repair, using their intrinsic Hedgehog signaling machinery to prevent excess fat and scar tissue formation while supporting proper muscle fiber regeneration.

Primary cilia promote cardiac fibrosis and limit heart function after myocardial infarction | bioRxiv: In her cardiac study, conducted in collaboration with former student and now postdoc Alessandra Norris, PhD, they found that primary cilia on cardiac fibroblasts help drive scar formation after myocardial infarction, and removing these cilia reduces fibrosis and improves heart function.

Together, these studies show that stromal cells are not just passive support cells, but rather cells that actively sense injury signals and help determine whether tissues heal, scar, or remodel pathologically.