Welcome Profs. Yan Li and Chenghu Hu to the Editorial Board of Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids

We are pleased to announce the appointment of two distinguished experts, Prof. Yan Li and Prof. Chenghu Hu, to the Editorial Board of Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids (EVCNA). Their expertise will significantly advance the journal's mission to disseminate high-impact research on extracellular vesicles and circulating nucleic acids.

Prof. Yan Li
Professor, ELATES Fellow, AIMBE Fellow, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA

Prof. Yan Li is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Florida State University (FSU), and currently serves as a visiting professor at Mayo Clinic (2025–2026). With more than 20 years of experience in both academia and industry, she specializes in pluripotent stem cell research and technology development.

Prof. Li earned her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University, where she was awarded the Presidential Fellowship and the Graduate Student Alumni Research Award. From 2002 to 2011, she worked at Geron Corporation, a global leader in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) technology, advancing from Development Scientist to Principal Scientist/Group Leader. Her process development efforts enabled the world's first hPSC-based clinical trial and supported the commercialization of several products, though much of her pioneering work remained unpublished due to corporate confidentiality.

Since joining FSU in 2011, Prof. Li's research has focused on the regulation of human stem cell microenvironments in multicellular aggregates. Her group applies biomaterials and bioprocessing strategies to modulate aggregate composition, signaling pathways, and microenvironmental cues, aiming to elucidate the biochemical and biophysical factors governing tissue morphogenesis. This research supports the development of neural tissue models for studying neurological diseases (e.g., ischemic stroke, Alzheimer's disease, brain tumors) and drug screening. More recently, her team has expanded into investigating human stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles as cell-free therapeutics and drug delivery systems.

Prof. Li's research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Florida Department of Health (FLDOH). She has received numerous institutional honors, including the FSU Developing Scholar Award, Innovator Awards, the Outstanding Research Accomplishment Award (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering), and the Department's Outstanding Research Award. She has also completed the FSU Emerging Leaders Program. Nationally, she has been recognized with the prestigious NSF CAREER award, the Cell Culture Engineering XV Organizer Award, and the Exceptional Speaker Award from the Society for Biological Engineering.

Prof. Li is a Fellow of both the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She regularly serves as a panelist for NSF, AIMBE, the American Heart Association, and numerous NIH study sections. She is an active reviewer for over 60 journals and has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications. Her contributions also include 13 patents or patent applications and more than 200 presentations.

Chenghu Hu
Professor, School of Medicine, Northwestern Polytechnical University
Director, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Prof. Chenghu Hu is the Director of the Xi'an Key Laboratory of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research centers on the basic science and translational applications of cell derivatives.

Prof. Hu has led projects funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Youth Program. He has also played key roles in NSFC Key Projects, Major International Cooperation and Exchange Programs, the Ministry of Education's "Innovation Team" Development Plan, and Dongguan's Innovative Technological Team Plan. He has applied for 9 national invention patents and 1 PCT international patent, with 3 patents already granted. As first or corresponding author, Prof. Hu has published 26 SCI-indexed papers in prestigious journals, including Cell Death and Differentiation, Aging Cell, Stem Cell Reports, and Biomaterials. Eleven of these publications have impact factors above 10. His work has been cited more than 4,400 times, with an H-index of 34. Prof. Hu has twice received the First Prize of the Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Award (2013, 2018). He also serves on the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Branch of the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering and the Oral Biology Specialty Committee of the Chinese Stomatological Association.

Editor: Yan Lei
Language Editor: Catherine Yang
Production Editor: Ting Xu
Respectfully Submitted by the Editorial Office of Extracellular Vesicles and Circulating Nucleic Acids