Bio

Michael Longaker’s research experience focuses on wound repair and fibrosis, with specific applications to the different systems between fetal and post-natal wound healing. His research has opened up two fields: fibroblasts heterogeneity / regeneration during wound repair and skeletal stem cells. He made the discovery that embryos heal without a scar early in gestation and transition to scarring late in gestation a while as a post-doc at UCSF. Over the past three decades he has worked out how mechanical forces promote scarring in adult animals. His laboratory identified the fibroblast lineage responsible for scarring in mouse dorsal wounds (Science, 2015). Most recently, he achieved true regeneration without scarring during adult mouse wound healing and has worked out mechanisms through which this occurs (Science, 2021: Cell Stem Cell, 2022:Science 2023).

His laboratory identified mouse skeletal stem cells in 2015 (Cell) and human skeletal stem cells in 2018 (Cell). He would show how skeletal stem cells are expanded during fracture repair (PNAS, 2015), are impacted by diabetes (Science Translational Medicine, 2017) and can be guided toward cartilage regeneration following microfracture surgery (Nature Medicine, 2020). He has shown that skeletal stem cells in the jaw can be activated by mechanical forces and revert back to a cranial neural crest fate during jaw regeneration (Nature, 2018). Most recently, he has shown that osteoporotic fractures can be rescued with local therapy to heal in a youthful like manner (Nature, 2021).

He has received numerous prestigious awards, including Medallion for Scientific Achievement and the Flance-Karl Award from the American Surgical Association, Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of University Surgeons; Dedication of Owen Wangensteen Scientific Forum, American College of Surgeons. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association for American Physicians, and the National Academy of Medicine. He has published over 1400 papers and has over 100 issued and / or applied for patents.

Michael T. Longaker, M.D., M.B.A., D.Sc (hon), FACS

Deane P. and Louise Mitchell Professor and Vice Chair
Co-Director, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Emeritus
Director, Program in Regenerative Medicine Emeritus
Professor, by Courtesy, of Bioengineering
Professor, by Courtesy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Stanford University School of Medicine