Dr. Xiaowen Bai’s research focuses on stem cell-based disease modeling and therapeutic discovery, with an emphasis on mechanisms of brain and heart injury. Her laboratory uses human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural and cardiac cells, 3D cerebral and cardiac organoids, animal models, and translational approaches to investigate how environmental and clinically relevant exposures, including anesthetics and alcohol, contribute to developmental neurotoxicity, neurodegeneration, mitochondrial dysfunction, redox imbalance, and cellular injury. 

Her research integrates molecular and cellular biology, mitochondrial and calcium signaling, non-coding RNA biology, transcriptomics, single-cell/multi-omics, advanced imaging, and functional assays to identify disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. Her laboratory provides training opportunities in human stem cell biology, organoid modeling, mitochondrial biology, molecular neuroscience, cardiovascular biology, and translational disease modeling. Dr. Bai welcomes collaborations in stem cell and organoid-based disease modeling, neurodevelopment, mitochondrial biology, brain and cardiac injury, and therapeutic discovery. A major goal of her work is to bridge basic molecular discoveries with clinically relevant models to better understand injury, protection, and regeneration in the nervous and cardiovascular systems.