Research in my laboratory has been focused on molecular signaling mechanisms in fatty liver pathogenesis and heart failure. These processes are mediated by several cross-talk pathways involving intracellular and extracellular mediators such as Wnts, sFRPs, VEGF, JAK/STAT3, and phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI). We have explored the immunomodulatory property of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in our cell transplantation studies, and found that MSCs improve cardiac function in the porcine myocardial ischemia and hamster heart failure models. We have identified secreted PGI as a diagnostic biomarker for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and developed a robust PGI enzyme assay method for NAFLD detection. My long-term goal is to generate clinically relevant strategies that may be used for disease diagnosis and therapy for a broad spectrum of human diseases. In addition to the research endeavor, my laboratory maintains Biomedical Research Service (www.bmrservice.com) that provides innovative reagents for the life science community and pharmaceutical industry.