Bishuang Cai, PhD

Principal investigator

  • Bishuang Cai, PhD

Current research projects

  • Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH)
    • Excessive hepatic cholesterol resulting from dysregulated cholesterol metabolism has been linked to MASH. Cholesterol accumulation induces cellular lipotoxicity, which can promote hepatocyte death and activate liver macrophages and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), ultimately driving progressive liver inflammation and fibrosis. Our lab recently identified the cholesterol-associated GWAS locus EHBP1 as a novel contributor to hepatic cholesterol homeostasis. However, its beneficial effects are abolished by MASH-induced inflammation (Cell Metab, 2025). Our current research focuses on identifying novel regulators of cholesterol metabolism and inflammation through human genetic studies. Furthermore, emerging evidence suggests that MASH-related processes including steatosis, inflammation, cell death and fibrosis are mediated by cellular crosstalk among various liver cell types. To investigate these interactions, we are dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular communication using single-cell RNA sequencing and co-culture systems.
  • Efferocytosis and Inflammation
    • The clearance of apoptotic cells (ACs), known as efferocytosis, is a process that evolved to support organ development and maintain body homeostasis. When efferocytosis is impaired, uncleared ACs undergo post-apoptotic necrosis, releasing immunogenic epitopes and pro-inflammatory mediators that contribute to chronic inflammatory diseases. Our previous studies demonstrated that defective efferocytosis impairs inflammation resolution, leading to plaque necrosis in atherosclerosis. During efferocytosis, efferocytes (such as macrophages) encounter substantial metabolic cargo — including lipids, amino acids, and nucleic acids — released from ingested ACs. Our lab is dedicated to understanding how efferocytes process this cargo, with a particular emphasis on the role of the endocytic trafficking machinery.

Current funding

  • NIH

Honors and awards

  • 2024 - Irvine H. Page Junior Faculty Research Award
  • 2024 - CALS Young Investigator Award
  • 2022 - AHA Career Development Award
  • 2022 - Poster of Distinction Award at AASLD annual meeting
  • 2022 - Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Trust Research Award
  • 2021 - PhRMA Foundation-Research Starter Award
  • 2021 - Dr. Franklin M. Klion Young Scientist Research Award
  • 2021 - Einstein-Mount Sinai Liver Center Pilot and Feasibility Award
  • 2021 - Runner up of Mount Sinai Distinguished Scholar Award
  • 2019 - Scholarship Award, Keystone Symposia on Integrated Pathways of Disease in NASH and NAFLD, Santa Fe, NM
  • 2019 - Columbia Medicine Grand Rounds Research Day Achievement Award
  • 2018 - K99/R00 NIH Pathway to Independence Award
  • 2015 - AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship

About Dr. Cai

Dr. Cai received her PhD from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where she studied endocytic membrane trafficking. She then joined Dr. Ira Tabas’s lab at Columbia University Irving Medical Center as a postdoctoral research scientist, focusing on translational research with an emphasis on macrophage biology in cardiometabolic diseases. In 2020, Dr. Cai joined the Liver Division in the Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as an assistant professor to begin her independent research career. She has now joined the Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases in the Department of Medicine at UCLA as an associate professor to continue pursuing her research and academic goals. Dr. Cai’s current research centers on endocytic membrane trafficking in metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and MASH-related cardiometabolic diseases. Her work has been supported by multiple NIH and foundation grants.

Lab members

Neha Gupta, PhD

Neha Gupta, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Gupta earned her BSc and MSc in biotechnology from Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in India, and her PhD in translational nephrology at the Biogem Institute, Italy. She was also a research fellow at Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in Navi Mumbai. Her work explores complex cellular processes, with current research focused on the role of retromer complex proteins in apoptotic cell clearance and metabolic dysfunction.

Yu Liu, PhD

Yu Liu, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Liu earned his PhD in biology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His previous research focused on the roles of distinct neuronal populations in the hypothalamus of the central nervous system in regulating appetite and energy homeostasis. Dr. Liu joined the Cai Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2025. His current work will investigate the role of endocytic trafficking in brain–liver crosstalk and its implications for metabolic diseases such as obesity, MASH, and atherosclerosis.

Fanglin Ma, PhD

Fanglin Ma, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Ma earned her PhD in clinical veterinary medicine from Northwest A&F University, with joint training at Mount Sinai. She worked in biotech on CAR-T therapies for ovarian cancer before joining the Cai Lab in 2022. Her research focuses on cholesterol homeostasis, endosomal trafficking, and inflammation in MASH and atherosclerosis, uncovering roles for EHBP1 and EHD1 in lipid regulation and macrophage function.

Yiwei Zhu, PhD

Yiwei Zhu, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Zhu earned her PhD in July 2023 from Jilin University, where her research focused on mechanisms underlying acute and chronic liver diseases, with a particular emphasis on hepatocyte injury and metabolic dysregulation. She then joined Dr. Cai’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow in October 2023. Her current research focuses on the role of macrophages in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, particularly their plasticity in shaping hepatic inflammation and fibrosis.

Key publications since 2020 | Dr. Cai NCBI

  1. Ma F, Longo M, Meroni M, Bhattacharya D, Paolini E, Mughal S, Hussain S, Anand S, Gupta N, Zhu Y, Navarro-Corcuera A, Li K, Prakash S, Cogliati B, Wang S, Huang X, Wang X, Yurdagul A Jr, Rom O, Wang L, Fried S, Dongiovanni P, Friedman S, Cai B. EHBP1 Suppresses Liver Fibrosis in Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatohepatitis. Cell Metab. 2025, 20:S1550-4131(25)00019-1
  2. Zhu Y and Cai B. Mechanisms and therapeutic insights into MASH-associated fibrosis. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2025, accepted
  3. Ma F, Cai B. Protocol for detecting LDLR on the cell surface of primary mouse hepatocytes using cell-surface biotinylation. STAR Protoc. 2025, 6(3):103977
  4. Navarro-Corcuera A, Zhu Y, Ma F, Gupta N, Asplund H, Cogliati B, Chipuk JE, Rom O, Friedman SL, Sansbury BE, Huang X, Cai B. Resolvin D1-mediated cellular crosstalk protects against MASH. JHEP Rep. 2025, 14;7(8):101454
  5. Gupta N and Cai B. Serum albumin: A potential biomarker for liver involvement in SARS-CoV-infection. EBioMedicine. 2025, 25:112:105565
  6. Ma F, Huang X, Cai B. Linking MASLD to ACVD through Kupffer cells. Nat Cardiovasc Res. 2024, 3(3), 258-259
  7. Huang X, Balmer S, Lyu C, Xiang Y, Malik V, Wang H, Zhang Y, Cai B, Xie W, Hadjantonakis A-K, Zhou H, Wang J. ZFP281 controls transcriptional and epigenetic changes promoting mouse pluripotent state transitions via DNMT3 and TET1. Dev Cell. 2024, 59(4):465-481.e6
  8. Liu H, Yerevanian A, Westerhoff M, Hastings MH, Guerra JRB, Zhao M, Svensson KJ, Cai B, Soukas AA, Rosenzweig A. Roles of Activin A and Gpnmb in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD). Diabetes. 2024, 73(2):260-279
  9. Guan D, Bae H, Zhou D, Chen Y, Jiang C, La C, Xiao Y, Zhu K, Hu W, Trinh T, Liu P, Xiong Y, Cai B, Jang C, Lazar M. Hepatocyte SREBP signaling mediates clock communication within the liver. J Clin Invest. 2023, 133(8):e163018
  10. Zahr T, Liu L, Chan M, Zhou Q, Cai B, He Y, Aaron N, Accili D, Sun L, Qiang L. PPARγ (Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ) Deacetylation Suppresses Aging-Associated Atherosclerosis and Hypercholesterolemia. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2023, 43(1):30-44
  11. Ampomah PB, Cai B, Sukka SR, Gerlach BD, Yurdagul A Jr, Wang X, Kuriakose G, Darville LNF, Sun Y, Sidoli S, Koomen JM, Tall AR, Tabas I. Macrophages use apoptotic cell-derived methionine and DNMT3A during efferocytosis to promote tissue resolution. Nat Metab. 2022, 4(4):444-457
  12. Shi H, Wang X, Li F, Gerlach BD, Yurdagul A Jr, Moore MP, Zeldin S, Zhang H, Cai B, Zheng Z, Valenti L, Tabas I. CD47-SIRPα axis blockade in NASH promotes necroptotic hepatocyte clearance by liver macrophages and decreases hepatic fibrosis. Sci Transl Med. 2022, 14(672):eabp8309
  13. Cai B*, Wang X. Liver cholesterol matters. Aging (Albany NY). 2020, 12(20):19828-19829. *corresponding author
  14. Cai B*, Kasikara C. TAM receptors and their ligand-mediated activation: Role in atherosclerosis. Int Rev Cell Mol Biol. 2020, 357:21-33. *corresponding author
  15. Wang X, Cai B. MerTK, a risk factor for NASH fibrosis. Aging (Albany NY).2020, 12(20):19832-19833
  16. Cai B*, Dongiovanni P, Corey KE, Wang X, Shmarakov IO, Zheng Z, Kasikara C, Davra V, Meroni M, Chung RT, Rothlin CV, Schwabe RF, Blaner WS, Birge RB, Valenti L, Tabas I*. Macrophage MerTK promotes liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Cell Metab. 2019, 31(2):406-421. *corresponding authors. (Comment in: Wen Y, Ju C, MER proto-pncogene tyrosine kinase: A novel potential target to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis fibrosis, Hepatology, 08/2020)
  17. Wang X, Cai B, Yang X, Zheng Z, Valenti L, Pajvani UB, Radhakrishnan A, Covey DF, Guan KL, Buck J, Levin LR, Tontonoz P, Schwabe RF, Tabas I. Cholesterol activates a TAZ-Stabilization pathway in hepatocytes to promote nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Cell Metab. 2020, 31(5):969-986

Contact us

For more information, please email Dr. Cai at [email protected].