We are a diverse set of engineers and scientists solving health problems by using and developing systems biology tools and technologies to describe and control spatial relationships between cells in tissues.
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We are hiring! We are always looking for passionate and ambitious individuals to join our efforts. Please visit our Join us page if interested!
Why it matters.
Nature did not provide a Lego instruction manual to biology. Similar to how individual Lego pieces form functional modules that can be put together to create machines, individual cells coordinate to form tissue units that create the organs that enable life.
Diseases, such as autoimmunity and cancer are examples where rules governing these multi-cell structures are disrupted. We strive to find out what cell processes go wrong, so we can intervene in preventative or curative fashion to restore proper homeostasis.
How we do it.
Location, location, location. Spatial is our specialty. We focus on describing the complex spatial networks of cell interactions within our body and how these coordinate to provide function in healthy tissue, how they break down in disease, and how we could exploit them therapeutically.
How we measure matters. We use a combination of home-brew technologies, latest spatial-omics, and machine learning to map these networks of interactions within our body.
Engineering is about control. We use a variety of engineering tools including biomaterials and cell reprogramming to achieve control over spatial multicellular responses once we understand them.
What we are up to now.
While our primary goals of cellular organization are broad, as are our collaborations, we are particularly interested in applications involving cell-based therapies. While cell-based therapies have shown remarkable clinical responses in liquid cancers, their application in solid cancers and other disease settings, such as autoimmunity, infectious disease, aging, is still evolving. To maximize efficacy of these therapies, we need a solid understanding of how these cells interact in spatial contexts and how we can control these interactions. Some example projects ongoing in the lab:
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