Kefei Nina Li

Cornell University | CU · Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics

Vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin is a well-recognized endothelial cell marker. One of its interacting partners, the TGF-β receptor Alk1, is essential in endothelial cells for adult skin vasculature remodeling during hair homeostasis. Using single-cell transcriptomics, lineage tracing and gene targeting in mice, we characterize the cellular and mo...

Blood vessels can play dual roles in tissue growth by transporting gases and nutrients and by regulating tissue stem cell activity via signaling. Correlative evidence implicates skin endothelial cells (ECs) as signaling niches of hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs), but functional demonstration from gene depletion of signaling molecules in ECs is miss...

Adult skin homeostasis involves global reorganization of dermal lineages at different stages of the mouse hair growth cycle. Vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin encoded by Cdh5) expressing cells from blood and lymphatic vasculature structures are known to remodel during the adult hair cycle. Here we employ single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-s...

Stem cells are the essential source of building blocks for tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Their behavior is dictated by both cell-intrinsic cues and extrinsic cues from the microenvironment, known as the stem cell niche. Interestingly, recent work began to demonstrate that hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) are not only passive recipients of si...

Adult hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) undergo dynamic and periodic molecular changes in their cellular states throughout the hair homeostatic cycle. These states are tightly regulated by cell‐intrinsic mechanisms as well as by extrinsic signals from the microenvironment. HFSCs are essential not only for fueling hair growth, but also for skin wound...

Skin vasculature cross-talking with hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) is poorly understood. Skin vasculature undergoes dramatic remodeling during adult mouse hair cycle. Specifically, a horizontal plexus under the secondary hair germ (HPuHG) transiently neighbors the HFSC activation zone during the quiescence phase (telogen). Increased density of HP...