People

  Dr. Nguyen is a molecular biologist whose research lies at the intersection of cardiac and skeletal muscle regeneration, cancer resistance in striated muscle, and translational therapeutic development. She joined the University of South Florida in 2025 as an Assistant Professor following over a decade of advanced training and research at the USA's top Institutes, from U.C. Davis Medical Center and UT Southwestern Medical Center.

  Dr. Nguyen focuses on elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive regenerative responses in adult striated muscle. Her research aims to restore cardiomyocyte proliferative capacity, promote skeletal muscle repair, and uncover the basis for the inherent resistance of striated muscle to metastatic invasion. Her prior work has identified key regulatory factors—including Meis1, Hoxb13, and calcineurin—that control postnatal cardiomyocyte cell cycle and sarcomere remodeling. She is also a co-inventor on a regenerative therapy currently under patent review and has led several research projects funded by the NIH and the American Heart Association.

  Dr. Nguyen has a strong record of first- and senior-author publications in leading journals, including Nature, Circulation, Nature Cardiovascular Research, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and PLOS ONE, reflecting a strong emphasis on both mechanistic insight and translational potential.

  Dr. Ching-Cheng Hsu is a Program Research Scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Ngoc Uyen Nhi Nguyen, Ph.D., at the Center for Regenerative Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Kaohsiung Medical University and a Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Basic and Clinical Medical Sciences at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. His doctoral research focused on the cancer microenvironment and pharmacological treatments using an orthotopic mouse model and patient-derived tissue.

  After graduation, he held a postdoctoral research position at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, where he studied radiation and DNA repair in the Department of Radiation Oncology, collaborating with Dr. Robert Timmerman, M.D., and Dr. Yuanyuan (Faith) Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., from 2019 to 2021. In 2022, he shifted his focus to cardiac disease and transitioned into cardiology within the field of internal medicine under the guidance of Dr. Ngoc Uyen Nhi Nguyen, Ph.D., at UT Southwestern Medical Center. During his postdoctoral training, he had 14 papers, all of which are ranked in the Q1 category.

  After completing his postdoctoral training, he continues his research on identifying and screening novel therapeutic targets to promote cardiac regeneration. His overarching goal is to advance regenerative strategies that enhance the heart’s ability to proliferate and restore its pumping function following injury. His long-term goal is to identify a “master gene” that can regulate cardiac regeneration and to screen existing market drugs as potential direct therapies for cardiovascular disease.