TITLE: "Biologist, Know Thy Cells - A Colorful Barcoding Method to ID Cell Types, their Fate, and Decode Brainwide Communication" ABSTRACT: A major challenge in biological imaging is resolving cell identities. These are necessary for determining cell-specific protein expression and function, the effect of transcription factors on cell fate, and the contribution of individual neurons to […]

TITLE: "Enhancer Loss and Gene Dosage Sensitivity Drives a Human Craniofacial Disorder" ABSTRACT: In recent years, the importance of understanding the role of non-coding regulatory mutations in human disease has become increasingly apparent. This is illustrated by a hotspot of non-coding mutations at the far end of a large gene desert surrounding the SOX9 gene that […]

TITLE: “Merging Experimental and Computational Approaches to Study Neurodegenerative Disease Dynamics” ABSTRACT: "Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's affect millions of people around the world and are a growing health concern in aging populations. A major roadblock in developing effective treatments involve the diverse etiology and progression rates, combined with a lack of clear understanding of […]

TITLE: "A quantitative view of strategies to engineer cell-selective ligand binding" ABSTRACT: Selective binding to specific target cells is a critical property of many therapies. To enhance selectivity in specific situations, a series of new strategies have been proposed in the drug development literature, including affinity, valency, multi-specificity, and other alterations to target cell binding. […]

TITLE: "Organoid Maturation by Circadian Entrainment " ABSTRACT: Stem cell-derived tissues that recap endogenous physiology are key for regenerative medicine. Yet, most methods yield products that function like fetal, not adult tissues. Organoids are typically grown in constant environments, while our tissues mature along with behavioral cycles. I show that inducing circadian rhythms in pancreatic islet organoids, […]

TITLE: "Building an integrated framework for tissue morphogenesis with the zebrafish inner ear" ABSTRACT: How simple tissues give rise to geometrically complex organs with robust shapes and functions is a fundamental question in biology with important implications in disease and translational medicine. The current mechanistic framework explains how upstream genetic and biochemical information pattern cellular mechanics […]

TITLE: "Understanding how environmental cues regulate Neuro-Mesodermal progenitor cells in development and disease" ABSTRACT: The trunk and tail of vertebrates arise from the addition of mesodermal (i.e., muscle and vertebrae) and neural (i.e., spinal cord) cells from the progenitor zone in the tailbud. This developmental program is critical for the proper formation of the posterior body […]

TITLE: "Cellular plasticity and fate choices in developing tissues and single cancer cells" ABSTRACT: While cellular processes are often reproducible and precise, cells may also alter their molecular states and adopt new fates in response to stimuli, a phenomena referred to as “plasticity”. I am interested in understanding the control principles governing cellular plasticity and fate […]

TITLE: "Exploration of human genetic and phenotypic diversity through cell villages" ABSTRACT: Our species is characterized by an immense diversity in neurological and psychological traits. Common and rare genetic variants have been linked to trait differences and disease risk in human populations, though the underlying biology is poorly understood and difficult to study at large scales. […]

TITLE: "Imaging-based genetic recording of developmental histories" ABSTRACT: Systems-level understanding of cell fate decisions has been hampered by limitations of the existing methods to capture developmental history of the cells. Synthetic recording, which uses genome editing to create sequence diversity in genetic barcodes, is emerging as a promising approach for mapping cell lineage and molecular history. […]