Haiting Ma

Haiting Ma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Illinois' School of Molecular & Cellular Biology. She holds a BSc from Nankai University, an MSc from Western University, and a PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on epigenetic mechanisms governing stem cell pluripotency, differentiation, and tissue maturation, with applications in regenerative medicine and disease modeling. Key areas include understanding how environmental cues and metabolism influence epigenetic regulation during development, developing technologies for maturing pluripotent stem cells into specialized cell types, and applying these insights to address unmet medical needs. Her lab has pioneered studies on hepatocyte maturation using nuclear receptor signaling and β-cell transplantation in diabetes research.

Dr. Ma's work spans multiple disciplines, including epigenomics, biochemistry, and stem cell biology. She has published extensively in high-impact journals like Cell Stem Cell and Cell Reports Medicine, with notable contributions to CAR-T cell engineering and SARS-CoV-2 genome integration studies. Her research also explores disease mechanisms in colorectal cancer and neuroblastoma through chimeric mouse models.

Key facilities include the Stem Cell Epigenetics Lab at the University of Illinois. Collaborations with institutions like MIT, Vanderbilt University, and Harvard Medical School highlight her interdisciplinary approach.