1. About

Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

cell structure

Can Stem Cells Help Turn Back the Clock?

Discover how Mount Sinai researchers Drs. Sarah Millar, Joel Blanchard, and Saghi Ghaffari are exploring the potential of stem cells to address aging and disease.

DEPARTMENTS AND OFFICES

Message From the Chair
Faculty
Research Laboratories
Education
Shared Research Facilities

Regenerative Medicine holds potential for improving the lives of countless individuals. The Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine is at the forefront of this field, working to turn our scientific discoveries into better care for patients both within and beyond New York City.

Situated within the Icahn School of Medicine, our interdisciplinary research teams study a wide range of conditions and diseases, from wound repair and hair loss to Alzheimer’s disease, childhood cancers, and the biology of aging.

Across every investigation, our mission is to identify new approaches to treat human disease and promote healthy aging. With direct access to patient data and biological samples, our breakthroughs can rapidly translate into novel treatments for the patients that need them most.

The Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine brings together basic researchers, stem cell biologists, and bioengineers, who study developmental processes and tissue stem cells in animal models, and generate human stem cell-derived platforms for investigating human disease, screening for new therapeutics, and advancing therapeutic transplantation techniques.

Our current research portfolio is providing new insights into a broad spectrum of medical conditions, including:

  • infertility
  • lung and liver disease
  • muscle wasting
  • wound repair
  • hair loss
  • congenital diseases affecting the craniofacial, hematopoietic, cardiac, and immune systems
  • neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism
  • neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease
  • childhood and adult cancers
  • and the fundamental processes of aging

Training and Scientific Leadership

We provide an exceptional environment for training the next generation of scientific leaders. Our graduate students and postdoctoral fellows directly engage in cutting-edge research across several model systems and experimental platforms. They benefit from close mentorship and collaboration with our faculty, who are dedicated to fostering scientific curiosity, technical excellence, and innovative thinking—all required to land leadership roles in academia, the biotechnology industry, and clinical medicine.

Led by its Chair, Sarah E. Millar, PhD, the Department is focused on advancing regenerative therapies, sustaining excellence in training, and building the knowledge in stem cell and regenerative biology that promises to fundamentally reshape our understanding in, preservation, and restoration of human health.

The Icahn School of Medicine is ranked No. 4 in the United States for Cell Biology in the 2026-2027 U.S. News & World Report® Best Global Universities rankings. 

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Meet the Chair

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Sarah Millar, PhD
DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AND SCIENTIFIC AFFAIRS
CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF STEM CELL BIOLOGY AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
DIRECTOR, DEAN’S CORE FACILITIES
PROFESSOR | Stem Cell Biology And Regenerative Medicine
PROFESSOR | Dermatology
PROFESSOR | Oncological Sciences

Discover how Dr. Millar combines pioneering research on epithelial stem cells with a deep commitment to training the next generation in biomedical research.

Our Research Partners

Every day, we collaborate with several major centers across Mount Sinai—working with surgical teams to develop new procedures and partnering with clinicians to accelerate the translation of stem cell discoveries into better clinical care.

Tisch Cancer Center

Advancing cancer prevention, treatment, and research through a multidisciplinary approach.

The Friedman Brain Institute

Driving research in brain disorders and translating discoveries into new treatments.

Institute for Airway Sciences

Uniting experts across the respiratory system to improve our understanding of airway disease, immunology, and regeneration.

Mindich Institute

Facilitating breakthrough translational research on diseases affecting infants, children, and adolescents.

Mount Sinai Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Institute

Developing better therapies and prevention strategies for diabetes and metabolic disease.

Sinai Skin Biology and Diseases Resource-based Center

Advancing skin biology research through pilot grants, infrastructure, and training.

Meet Our Leadership

Sarah Millar, PhD
Sarah Millar, PhD

Chair; Dean, Academic and Scientific Affairs; Director, Dean’s Core Facilities

Elena Ezhkova, PhD
Elena Ezhkova, PhD

Vice-Chair for Research

Prashanth Rangan, PhD
Prashanth Rangan, PhD

Vice-Chair for Strategic Initiatives; Co-Chair, Faculty Search Committee

Nan Yang, PhD
Nan Yang, PhD

Co-Chair, Faculty Search Committee

Department Announcements

“Damage to the brain’s blood vessels is not simply a late consequence of Alzheimer’s disease; it is a biologically active process caused by APOE4 that may be reversible,” said corresponding author Joel W. Blanchard, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “These findings reveal new therapeutic targets for preserving vascular function and limiting amyloid accumulation.”

“We show that APOE4 converts blood-vessel support cells into scar-producing cells, causing amyloid or abnormal protein buildup to accumulate around the brain’s vessels. Through our experiments, we were able to block this protein buildup process, revealing possible new therapeutic treatment options and strategies for protecting the brain’s circulation in people at high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” said first author Braxton R. Schuldt, MD/PhD candidate in Neuroscience and researcher in the Blanchard Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“A key advance of our technology is that miBrains with predefined cellular compositions and disease-related factors can be cryopreserved,” said Louise Mesentier-Louro, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and first author of the Cell Stem Cell study. “This capability improves reproducibility and scalability of complex disease modeling and supports more efficient drug development and validation.”

“At Mount Sinai we are creating and cryopreserving miBrains from patients,” said corresponding author Joel W. Blanchard, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “This will enable personalized studies into how neurodegenerative disease develops and how individuals may respond to therapies. By enabling potential therapies to be tested earlier and more efficiently, the miBrain platform could help bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and treatments for a broad range of disorders.”

  • The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 4 in the United States for Cell Biology in the 2026-2027 S. News & World Report®Best Global Universities rankings.
  • We are delighted that our faculty members received recognition for their outstanding research at the 2026 Faculty Council Awards Ceremony on June 22, 2026:
    • Elvin Wagenblast, PhD, received the Faculty Council Junior Award.
    • Andrew Ji, MD, received the Dr. Harold and Golden Lamport Clinical Research Award.
    • Many congratulations to Dr. Wagenblast and Dr. Ji for their spectacular achievements

2026 FASEB Lung Epithelium in Health and Disease Conference

Martha Rea-Moreno, Cassandra Phillips, Qingyue Li, and Bushra Islam

Congratulations to Martha Rea-Moreno, Cassandra Phillips, Qingyue Li, and Bushra Islam from Ya-Wen’s lab, who each received a travel award to attend the 2026 FASEB Lung Epithelium in Health and Disease Conference.

A New Tradition Begins:
New York Stem Cell Club

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A New Tradition Begins: New York Stem Cell Club

Research in Focus

blood vessels

Laboratory-generated human blood vessels used to investigate how genetic risk factors contribute to vascular degeneration. Blanchard Laboratory

In the News

Blanchard lab prepares tissue for mission
Mount Sinai Scientists to Send Human Tissue Models Into Space to Study Brain, Heart Health, and Aging in Microgravity
Doctor adjusting microscope
Mount Sinai Study Uncovers How Loss of the Critical Tumor Suppressor p53 Enables Mutant Cells to Expand Through Normal Tissue

Resources For You

PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences
Stem Cell Engineering CoRE
Flow Cytometry CoRE
Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Training Area
Development Regeneration and Stem Cells
Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine