While a doctoral student, Dr. Cheng worked on human DNA replication models and transcriptional factors, including one of the first two DNA-binding proteins from mammalian cells (NF-I/CTF). He initiated his stem cell research career as a postdoctoral fellow, helping establish mouse pluripotent stem cell lines from primordial germ cells, a landmark study published in Nature in 1992. Since 1994, his research has focused on human stem cell biology and cell engineering. Dr. Cheng led groups within the industry and at Johns Hopkins and has published more than 78 original research papers, including those in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, Cell, Stem Cell, Blood, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. His lab is currently focused on using human stem cells for blood disease modeling and treatment.