PROMOTIONS

Applying the fundamental principles and state-of-the-art tools of molecular biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering and materials science, we aim to develop technologies and engineer devices for single-molecule sequencing and digital counting of DNA/RNA and proteins in single cells, or any biological/clinical samples. These precise digital measurements will enable better computational modeling and deterministic understanding of living systems, and human physiology and diseases for basic research and biomedical applications. Our current research areas:

· Molecular and nano technologies for single-molecule DNA/RNA and protein sequencing

· Genomics, proteomics and medical diagnostics

· Lab-on-a-chip microfluidics, protein and nano device engineering

· DNA data storage and molecular computing

· Physical modeling, numerical simulations and deep machine learning

This incoherence originates from the context and time dependent nature of biological phenomena. As a result, findings from in vitro studies rarely translate directly into impact for patients. It remains a major challenge to identify critical disease features and capture them “in a dish”. Diseases that involve complex microenvironmental deregulation, rather than a causal genetic mutation, are especially challenging. Linking in vitro and clinical information across temporal and spatial scales requires engineering innovation in two major areas, on which the Fraley Lab focuses: I.) quantitative, time-dependent, and integrative measurements of disease processes in humans to identify dominant features, and II.) recapitulating these key features in three-dimensional (3D) human tissue system mimics to study causal relationships.

The major research thrusts in the laboratory are two-fold: one, development of molecular toolsets for genome, transcriptome, and proteome engineering and their application to systematic genome interpretation and gene therapy applications; and two, study and engineering of cell fate specification during development utilizing human pluripotent stem cells as the core model system. Given the parallels in phenotypes (such as self-renewal and tumor forming ability) between pluripotent stem cells and cancer cells, a key research thrust is also in dissecting aberrant cellular transformation processes such as during tumorigenesis.

Our research approach is curiosity-driven, integrating core expertise in genome engineering and stem cell engineering, with synthetic biology and materials science, and we are passionate about understanding and progressively engineering biology towards enabling gene & cell based human therapeutics.