The Choksi Lab investigates the molecular logic underlying airway stem cell differentiation, with a focus on how multipotent airway epithelial stem cells choose betweendifferentiated cell fates and execute the complex steps required to build highly specialized multiciliated cells. A central theme of our work is understanding how a variant cell-cycle, an alternative version of the canonical mitotic cycle, facilitates differentiation by coordinating centriole synthesis, centriole maturation and ciliogenesis, all essential steps for multiciliated cell differentiation.
We map transcriptional and translational trajectories of differentiation at single-cell resolution to identify the critical regulators that drive fate specification and maturation. Using CRISPR-based perturbations, live-cell imaging, and organoid models, we define how transcription factors, signaling pathways, and cell-cycle regulators collectively guide lineage commitment and orchestrate stepwise multiciliated cell differentiation.
