My research focuses on understanding how cells make decisions that drive development, maintain tissue balance, and enable regeneration, and determining how errors in these decision lead to developmental disorders and diseases such as neurodegeneration.
To address these questions, my lab takes a bottom-up approach that begins with cell biology. We develop de novo reporters for high-content and high-resolution imaging, allowing us to track cell decisions at the single-cell level and analyze cellular heterogeneity quantitatively. Using these tools, we identify previously unrecognized structural determinants that influence cell decisions across development, neurobiology, and immunology. We then apply omics-based approaches to systematically map the molecular basis underlying these structural features, before returning to organoid and animal models to uncover their physiological roles. Through this multi-scale approach, spanning reconstituted systems, live cells, embryos, and animals, we aim to reveal the fundamental principles that govern how cells integrate signals and structures to make fate decisions. Ultimately, by harnessing these principles, we hope to engineer cells to guide development and combat disease.
A key structural determinant we recently identified is the membrane contact site between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the plasma membrane (PM)—specialized regions where cellular membranes come into close proximity to exchange signals and materials. We are currently uncovering how these sites help establish and maintain cell polarity, both in vitro and in vivo, a fundamental property that enables cells to sense their environment and determine when and where to move.