Shi Yue

Dr. Shi Yue is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. His research focuses on macrophage biology, hematopoietic progenitor-cell expansion, genetic engineering, and cell-based therapies for cancer and fibrotic diseases.

Dr. Yue has extensive research experience in liver diseases, particularly hepatic inflammation, ischemia–reperfusion injury, transplantation, and fibrosis. His earlier work defined signaling and cellular stress-response pathways that regulate macrophage inflammatory and tissue-protective functions, including PTEN/PI3K/AKT, HSF1–β-catenin, inflammasome activation, autophagy, and sphingosine-1-phosphate signaling. These studies advanced the understanding of how resident and recruited macrophages, hepatic stellate cells, and the tissue microenvironment contribute to liver injury, repair, and fibrotic progression.

More recently, Dr. Yue led the development of a chemically defined system for the long-term expansion and genetic engineering of mouse and human granulocyte–monocyte progenitors (GMPs). His work demonstrated that expanded GMPs retain their myeloid potential, home to hematopoietic tissues following intravenous administration, infiltrate solid tumors, and differentiate into functional myeloid effector cells in vivo. He further developed chimeric antigen receptor-engineered myeloid progenitors (CAR-MPs), including CAR-Fc receptor designs capable of recruiting host immune cells and promoting endogenous antitumor responses.

Dr. Yue’s current research seeks to translate the CAR-MP platform into scalable, off-the-shelf therapies for solid tumors, including prostate and lung cancers. Building on his background in liver immunology and fibrosis, he is also developing engineered myeloid progenitors to target activated hepatic stellate cells, remodel fibrotic tissue, and promote liver repair. By integrating progenitor-cell biology, macrophage engineering, and innate and adaptive immunology, his research aims to create durable cellular therapies that overcome tumor heterogeneity, inadequate tissue trafficking, and immunosuppressive disease microenvironments.

• Kaplowitz, Neil
• Tsukamoto, Hidekazu
• Kloner, Robert
• Stiles, Bangyan
• Peters, Anne
• Wang, Rongfu