What we do
Develop mammalian synthetic biology tools to advance anti-cancer cellular therapy, regenerative medicine, and microfluidic human organ models.
Cell state sensing
The intrinsic process of development and diseases during progressive changes is cell state transition. One of the fundamental challenges to study cell state transition is to monitor the cell state by endogenous biomolecules. My lab is developing mammalian synthetic biology tools to sense cell states (identities) for controlling and perturbation cell state in living cells and tissues.
microRNA based cell state sensing
microRNA-based cell state sensing is a versatile platform with broad applications, including endothelial cell state sensing, stem cell state sensing, cancer cell line sensing, and muscle cell state sensing.
Cell fate bioengineering
Cell state transitions are steered by critical regulators in a timely manner. By developing mammalian synthetic biology tools, we aim to systematically identify the functions of these regulators and bioengineer cell fate in a rationally designed and step-wised way for medical applications, such as regenerative medicine and cellular therapy.
Cell fate engineering via transcription factors
Deciphering the functions of transcription factor in the contexts of intermediate cell states.
Genetically programed differentiation
Limited cell types have been derived from hiPSCs as the differentiation is largely guided by externally administered small molecules/cytokines to perturb endogenous pathways in a trial-and-error manner. My research programs focus on developing systematic genetic tools to differentiate the desired cell types from hiPSCs for addressing emerging biomedical challenges, including providing cost-effective and unlimited cell sources for cell therapies.
Stepwise cell fate engineering through automated programmed genetic circuits
Monitoring the changes in cell states within individual live cells and selectively trigger the relevant differentiation factors when the cells reach the desired state.
Microfluidic human organ modeling
Building ex vivo engineering models of organ/tumor-on-a-chip to test therapy efficacies and integrating both patient cancer cells and immune cells derived from hiPSCs for developing cell therapies in a cancer microenvironment model.
Syn Organ/disease-on-a-chip
Organ/disease-on-a-chip models with synthetic biology-engineered cell types derived from donor-matched cell sources.
