Younggeon Jin

Current Research

Our long-term research goal is to understand how intestinal stem cells (ISCs) drive both repair and development of the gut, and to apply that biology to two problems at once: mucosal healing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and gut maturation in neonatal piglets. We study the interplay between the apical junctional complex, ISCs, and the mesenchymal stromal niche using human, mouse, and porcine intestinal organoids, genetically engineered mouse models, and piglet studies. Working with engineers, immunologists, virologists, and physicians, we aim to move these discoveries toward real therapeutic and agricultural applications.

E-cadherin: Releasing the Brake on Gut Healing. In IBD, calming inflammation is not enough. Up to 80% of Crohn's disease patients and 20 to 30% of ulcerative colitis patients eventually need surgery because the gut lining never fully heals. We found that E-cadherin, the core adherens junction protein, acts as a dynamic switch for ISC-driven repair: it transiently drops during healthy regeneration to let stem cells rebuild the epithelium, then returns once healing is complete. In active IBD, this brake stays engaged and keeps repair switched off. Using human and mouse organoids and ISC-specific E-cadherin knockout mice, we showed that briefly releasing E-cadherin activates pro-regenerative Wnt and Hippo signaling, restores regeneration, and accelerates mucosal healing without lasting barrier damage (Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol, 2026). Together with engineering collaborators, we are now developing a gut-healing smart pill that delivers E-cadherin-targeted therapy directly to the inflamed gut lining.

Priming Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) for IBD Therapy. MSCs are both anti-inflammatory and tissue-repairing, but most priming strategies developed so far boost only their immunomodulatory side, leaving their regenerative potential largely untapped. We discovered that co-culturing human bone marrow-derived MSCs with injured human colonoids, rather than with generic inflammatory cytokines, markedly increases their release of growth factors that directly activate ISC regeneration while preserving their anti-inflammatory output. Supported by the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) Discovery Program and in partnership with Dr. Alix Berglund (Department of Veterinary Medicine), we are identifying the factors that drive this dual priming effect and testing primed MSCs in murine colitis models. With Dr. Po-Yen Chen (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), we are also building AI-guided imaging and analysis of organoid co-cultures.

Building Better Guts from Birth: The Mesenchymal Niche in Piglet Development. The neonatal piglet gut must mature rapidly in the days around weaning, and when that process falters, piglets grow poorly, their gut barrier weakens, and they become more prone to disease. We focus on intestinal mesenchymal stromal cells (iMCs), the stromal cells beneath the epithelium that direct how epithelial cells grow, differentiate, and form a barrier. We showed that the iMC niche is remodeled in an age-dependent manner during the pre-weaning period, shifting from supporting epithelial expansion to promoting differentiation, with a calcium-associated transitional stromal state emerging along the way (Front Cell Dev Biol, 2026). We pair enteroid and iMC co-cultures with AI-guided organoid screening to identify feed additives, such as butyrate, that activate iMCs at the right developmental stage, and then validate promising candidates in pre-weaning piglets. Because piglets are physiologically similar to human infants, this stroma-targeted, antibiotic-free strategy also offers a model for human infant gut development.

Protecting the Gut Barrier: Larazotide Acetate and Ischemic Injury. Building on our earlier work on tight junctions, we found that the therapeutic peptide larazotide acetate protects the intestinal barrier during anoxia/reoxygenation injury through multiple cellular mechanisms, including inhibition of myosin light chain kinase (Biomedicines, 2025). This work, relevant to necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants and ischemic colitis in adults, continues through an industry collaboration advancing larazotide acetate toward clinical development.

Collaborative Project: Ingestible Bioimpedance Capsules and a Gut-Healing Smart Pill. In collaboration with Drs. Reza Ghodssi and Justin Stine in the MATRIX Lab and Dr. Katharina Maisel in Bioengineering at UMD, we are developing ingestible devices to monitor and treat the gut. Our wireless bioimpedance-sensing capsule measures site-specific mucosal permeability in vivo and accurately detected inflammation-associated permeability changes in a rat colitis model (Microsystems & Nanoengineering, 2025; Device, 2026). Supported by an NIH R21 award and a UMD Grand Challenges 2.0 Team Grant, we are now pairing this capsule with mucus-penetrating nanoparticles to create a smart pill that can both monitor and treat IBD.

A Resource for the Research Community. Our organoid and animal systems also support collaborative studies of avian enteric viral infection, intestinal immune cells, the gut microbiome, and the gut-placenta axis, as well as industry partnerships on patient-derived organoid platforms for precision IBD therapy.

Selected Publications

† Trainees mentored in the Jin Lab; * equal contribution. Full list: ORCID 0000-0003-2450-9330

1. Girma, B.†*, Ayansola, H.†*, Chen, J.†, Kim, J.†, Miko, C.†, Gruskin, Z.†, Jin, Y. (2026). E-cadherin acts as a dynamic switch in epithelial regeneration in inflammatory bowel disease. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00044.2026
2. Ayansola, H.†, Jin, Y. (2026). Age-dependent remodeling of the intestinal mesenchymal niche during early postnatal development in piglets. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 14:1847165. doi:10.3389/fcell.2026.1847165
3. Lim, M. W., Ayansola, H.†, Stine, J. M., Karasik, J. M., Jin, Y., Ghodssi, R. (2026). In vivo monitoring of tissue permeability in a rat colitis model via a bioimpedance-sensing ingestible device. Device, 101180. doi:10.1016/j.device.2026.101180
4. Patiño, L. C., Ayansola, H.†, Jin, Y., Berglund, A. K. Equine mesenchymal stromal cells dual-primed with TGF-β1 and IL-1β or TNF-α improve epithelial healing. BMC Veterinary Research. doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-10072744/v1
5. Kim, J.†, Madan, J. P., Laumas, S., Krishnan, B. R., Jin, Y. (2025). Larazotide acetate protects the intestinal mucosal barrier from anoxia/reoxygenation injury via various cellular mechanisms. Biomedicines, 13(10), 2483. doi:10.3390/biomedicines13102483
6. Ayansola, H.†, Jin, Y. (2025). An optimized sequential isolation of crypts and mesenchymal stromal cells from porcine intestinal tissue. Journal of Visualized Experiments, (226), e69429. doi:10.3791/69429
7. Holt, B. M., Stine, J. M., Beardslee, L. A., Ayansola, H.†, Jin, Y., Pasricha, P. J., Ghodssi, R. (2025). An ingestible bioimpedance sensing device for wireless monitoring of epithelial barriers. Microsystems & Nanoengineering, 11(1), 24. doi:10.1038/s41378-025-00877-8
8. Ayansola, H.†, Mayorga, E. J., Jin, Y. (2024). Subepithelial stromal cells: their roles and interactions with intestinal epithelial cells during gut mucosal homeostasis and regeneration. Biomedicines, 12(3), 668. doi:10.3390/biomedicines12030668
9. Hada, A., Li, L., Kandel, A., Jin, Y., Xiao, Z. (2023). Characterization of bovine intraepithelial T lymphocytes in the gut. Pathogens, 12(9), 1173. doi:10.3390/pathogens12091173
10. Jin, Y., Blikslager, A. T. (2020). The regulation of intestinal mucosal barrier by myosin light chain kinase/rho kinases. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(10), 3550. doi:10.3390/ijms21103550
11. Jin, Y., Ibrahim, D., Magness, S. T., Blikslager, A. T. (2018). Knockout of ClC-2 reveals critical functions of adherens junctions in colonic homeostasis and tumorigenicity. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, 315(6), G966-G979. doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00087.2018
12. Jin, Y., Blikslager, A. T. (2016). Myosin light chain kinase mediates intestinal barrier dysfunction via occludin endocytosis during anoxia/reoxygenation injury. American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 311(6), C996-C1004. doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00113.2016
13. Jin, Y., Pridgen, T. A., Blikslager, A. T. (2015). Pharmaceutical activation or genetic absence of ClC-2 alters tight junctions during experimental colitis. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, 21(12), 2747-2757. doi:10.1097/MIB.0000000000000550
14. Jin, Y., Blikslager, A. T. (2015). ClC-2 regulation of intestinal barrier function: translation of basic science to therapeutic target. Tissue Barriers, 3(4), e1105906. doi:10.1080/21688370.2015.1105906

Courses

• ANSC 401: Animal Growth and Development for Production Agriculture (Lead Instructor, team-taught). A newly required course for Animal Science majors, launched in Spring 2026, built around semester-long team projects that propose grant-style solutions to real problems in animal production.
• ANSC 445: Comparative Gut Physiology and Diseases (Instructor and Developer, since Spring 2021; formerly Comparative Digestive Physiology). Builds from digestive anatomy, histology, and physiology to the molecular mechanisms of gut diseases across species, culminating in student-led disease research projects.
• ANSC 645: Advanced Studies in Comparative Digestive Pathophysiology (Instructor and Developer)
• ANSC 454: Nutritional Aspects of Metabolic Disease (Instructor)
• ANSC 688O: Special Topics, Advanced Nutritional Pathophysiology (Instructor)

Mentoring

• Gemstone Honors Program team mentor (2020-2023), guiding a nine-student interdisciplinary research team through their thesis defense.
• Graduate trainees: Hammed Ayansola (PhD, dissertation defended 2026), Bereket Girma (PhD student), and Jiecheng Chen (MS student), plus service on graduate advisory committees in Animal Science, Nutrition and Food Science, and Electrical Engineering.
• More than 20 undergraduate researchers mentored since 2019, who have gone on to medical school, veterinary school, graduate programs, and industry research positions.

Research Funding

• Lead PI, Gut Healing Smart Pill Team Award, UMD Grand Challenges Grant 2.0, 2026-2029
• Co-Investigator, "Bioimpedance Sensing Capsule for Measuring Intestinal Permeability," National Institutes of Health (R21), 2026-2028
• Collaborator, "Advancing Patient-Derived Organ-Dish Platforms for Precision Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease," MSCRF Commercialization Grant (with Caleo Biotechnologies, Inc.), 2027-2028
• PI, "Stage-Specific Activation of Intestinal Mesenchymal Cells to Improve Gut Development in Piglets," Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES), 2026-2027
• Lead PI, "Finetuning of MSC Priming for Mucosal Healing in IBD: Dual Targeting Intestinal Stem Cell Regeneration and Immunomodulation," Discovery Program, Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, 2025-2027
• Co-Investigator, "Modeling the Evolution of Avian Influenza Viruses in the Pre-Pandemic Period Using Chicken and Duck Intestinal Organoids and Air-Liquid Interface Cultures," UMD Grand Challenges Team Project Grant, 2023-2026
• PI, "Role of Intestinal Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in Porcine Postnatal Intestinal Development," MAES, 2023-2024
• Co-Investigator, "Development of an Avian Enteroid Model to Study the Interactions of Zoonotic Pathogens with the Avian Host," AGNR One Health Initiative, 2022
• Lead PI, "Role of E-cadherin in Intestinal Stem Cell Homeostasis and Regeneration," LAUNCH Program, Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, 2021-2023
• PI, "Role of ClC-2 in Intestinal Ischemic Injury and Repair," MAES, 2020-2021
• Lead PI, "Identification of Genes and Pathways Regulated with Larazotide Acetate to Protect Intestinal Barrier," Innovate Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., 2019-2021
• PI, Pilot/Feasibility Grant, "Role of ClC-2 in Intestinal Ischemic Injury and Repair," Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease (NIDDK P30DK034987), 2017-2018

Honors and Recognition

• Invited Session Speaker, American Physiology Summit, Minneapolis, MN, 2026
• Guest Editor, Biomedicines, 2023-2025
• Certificate of Recognition for Scientific Accomplishment as an Early Career Investigator, Digestive Disease Week, 2018
• Notable Poster, Postdoctoral Research Symposium, NC State University, 2018
• Professional Development Award for Postdocs, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, NC State University, 2017
• Travel Award, FASEB Gastrointestinal Tract XVII Conference, 2017
• Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year Award, Department of Clinical Sciences, NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 2016