Yun XIA

Kidney Regeneration and Disease Modelling
PhD – National University of Singapore

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yun-xia-4b1a4bab

SUMMARY

Dr. Xia is a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. Prior to joining IMCB in 2026, she was a Nanyang Assistant Professor and Provost’s Chair in Stem Cell Biology at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

Her research focuses on developing human stem cell–based models to study kidney development and disease. She has made seminal contributions to the kidney organoid field, including early work on directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into ureteric progenitor populations and the generation of vascularised kidney organoids that recapitulate key features of human kidney development. Her current work expands these platforms to investigate how intercellular crosstalk shapes disease progression, with particular interest in cystogenesis, inflammation, and fibrosis. By advancing human-relevant model systems, her research aims to enable mechanistic discovery and support the development of next-generation therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Xia received the SCSS Dr. Susan Lim Award for Young Investigator (Stem Cell Society Singapore) in 2020 and was selected for the EMBO Global Investigator Network in 2020. She has served as an Associate Editor for Kidney International (International Society of Nephrology) since 2022.

KEY AWARDS & GRANTS

2025: International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Public Service Award
2024: MOE Tier 2 (Lead PI) - Construct kidney organoids with higher-order tissue architecture for studying congenital kidney diseases
2023: NMRF OF-IRG (Lead PI) - Preclinical evaluation of candidate PKD drugs in kidney organoid xenograft model and genetic animal model
2023: NMRC OF-LCG (Theme PI) - Diabetes Study in Nephropathy And other Microvascular Complications II (Theme 5 – Systems genetics approaches to DN pathogenesis)
2021: MOE Tier 2 (Lead PI) - Predisposing lineage specification via precise emulation of 3D embryonic epiblast
2020: EMBO Global Investigator Network
2020: Stem Cell Society Singapore (SCSS), Dr. Susan Lim Award for Outstanding Young Investigator
2019: MOE Tier 2 (Lead PI) - Studying kidney development using the new paradigm of organoid differentiation
2018: NMRC OF-IRG (Lead PI) - Autologous PKD iPSC-derived kidney organoids: a novel platform for personalized drug screening

RESEARCH

Dr. Xia’s laboratory develops human pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived organoid and assembloid systems to model kidney biology in a physiologically relevant context. A central goal is to overcome the limitations of conventional organoid systems by reconstructing multicellular tissue environments that better reflect human physiology.

Her group focuses on building next-generation kidney organoids with increased cellular complexity and functional relevance. While early systems recapitulate aspects of nephron patterning and morphogenesis, they lack key components such as vasculature, immune cells, and innervation. To address this, her laboratory integrates directed differentiation, multi-lineage self-organisation, genome engineering, and single-cell analysis to generate platforms that enable the study of intercellular crosstalk.

Using these platforms, her research interrogates fundamental mechanisms across multiple disease contexts. Current efforts focus on immune–organ interactions in genetic and metabolic kidney diseases, as well as the cellular events underlying tumour initiation in renal cell carcinoma. Her group also explores sex-specific disease phenotypes and inter-organ communication using integrated organoid systems. Through these approaches, Dr. Xia’s work aims to establish tractable platforms for studying human disease, with applications in mechanistic biology and therapeutic development.

PUBLICATIONS

Toward physiologically relevant organoid models of polycystic kidney disease through microenvironment reconstruction.
Liu M, Zhang T, Cao W, Tan TJ, Yin D, Wang H, Xia Y^. (2026)
J Am Soc Nephrol. 2026; 00:1–14. PMID: 41563390

Toward building kidney organoids with plumbing: Fusion of nephron with ureteric bud.
Zhang C, Xia Y^. (2025)
Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Jul 3;32(7):1029-1031. PMID: 40614710
Kidney organoid models reveal cilium-autophagy metabolic axis as a therapeutic target for PKD both in vitro and in vivo.
Liu M, Zhang C, Gong X, Zhang T, Lian MM, Chew EGY, Cardilla A, Suzuki K, Wang H, Yuan Y, Li Y, Naik MY, Wang Y, Zhou B, Soon WZ, Aizawa E, Li P, Low JH, Tandiono M, Montagud E, Moya-Rull D, Esteban CR, Luque Y, Fang ML, Khor CC, Montserrat N, Campistol JM, Izpisua Belmonte JC^, Foo JN^, Xia Y^. (2024)
Cell Stem Cell. 2024 Jan 4;31(1):52-70. PMID: 38181751

Reconstructing the interface between the human intestine and immune system: potential to advance mechanistic studies in IgA nephropathy.
Wang H, Zuiami J, Coates PT, Xia Y^. (2024)
Kidney International. 2024 Mar;105(3):423-426. PMID: 38388138
Generation of Human PSC-Derived Kidney Organoids with Patterned Nephron Segments and a De Novo Vascular Network.
Low JH, Li P, Chew EGY, Zhou B, Suzuki K, Zhang T, Lian MM, Liu M, Aizawa E, Rodriguez Esteban C, Yong KSM, Chen Q, Campistol JM, Fang M, Khor CC, Foo JN, Izpisua Belmonte JC, Xia Y^. (2019)
Cell Stem Cell. 2019 Sep 5 ;25(3) :373-387. PMID: 31303547

Directed differentiation of human pluripotent cells to ureteric bud kidney progenitor-like cells.
Xia Y, Nivet E, Sancho-Martinez I, Gallegos T, Suzuki K, Okamura D, Wu M, Dubova I, Rodriguez C, Montserrat N, Campistol J, Izpisua Belmonte JC. (2013)
Nat Cell Biol. 2013 Dec;15(12):1507-15. PMID: 24240476

Yun XIA

A*STAR celebrates International Women's Day