Research
The etiology of many diseases is not well known. To achieve a better understanding of its causes, we will utilize human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived organoid differentiation platforms, CRISPR gene perturbations, and single cell and spatial technologies. By equipped with these cutting-edge techologies, we can dissect the molecular mechanism behind of our diseases in-depth which will help us to develop the personalized treatment for patients.
Cardiac Team
Cardiac organoid differentiation
Identification of unknown roles of epigenetic regulators during heart development using hPSC-derived cardiac organoids and CRISPR genetic screening with single cell and spatial transcriptomics.
Pancreas Team: establishment of pancreatic disease modeling using hPSC
1) Acinar cell differentiation to model pancreatitis
By introducing PRSS1 mutations which are enriched in human pancreatitis patients in hPSC, the disease modeling platform of pancreatitis can be established.
2) Endocrine cell differentiation diabetic etiology
To identify the environmental factors, such as medications, which can induce diabetes, using small molecules screening hPSC-derived pancreatic differentiation
Immune Team: Regenerative Medicine using Pluripotent Stem Cells
Using pluripotent stem cells as a resource for immune cell therapy has been a huge attention; however, the differentiation to generate functional immune cells from pluripotent stem cells has not been successful due to several molecular bottlenecks. To establish more efficient differentiation platform, we will use CRISPR genetic screening to elucidate the molecular regulation during in vitro differentiation and identify the obstacles to fix.
Research Funding
RS-2023-00223069 MUSCAT: Establishment and optimization of muscle cell atlas for therapeutic applications on skeletal and cardiac diseases (2023-04-01~2027-12-31, Total 617,500,000 won)
RS-2023-00261247 Development of an ultrasound sensitive guide RNA nanoparticle-microbubble complex gene editing delivery system for the prevention of hereditary pancreatitis (2023-07-01~2027-12-31, Total 675,500,000 won)
RS-2024-00332601 Ex-vivo gene editing for mitochondrial diabetes treatment with iPSCs by advanced base editing and prime editing (2024-04-01~2028-12-31, Total 712,500,000 won)