Epigenetic mechanisms sculpture hundreds of cell type-specific epigenetic landscapes from the same genome blueprint. Our group aims to understand the epigenetic regulation of cell-environment interactions in pluripotency modulation during the peri-implantation stages, and the maturation process that transforms fetal and neonatal immature cells to functionally mature cells to establish normal physiology.
Pluripotent stem cells (PSC) based approaches recapitulate several key steps of the mammalian development, and can be used to study pluripotency regulation and maturation biology (highlighted in red), significant knowledge gaps in the mammalian life cycle.
In addition to studying normal human development, we investigate disease processes—particularly cancer—which can be viewed as development gone awry. By integrating human pluripotent stem cells, tissue engineering, humanized mouse models, and genomic approaches, we aim to understand the earliest molecular and cellular events that drive tumor initiation, progression, and lineage plasticity. Our research focuses primarily on epithelial cancers, with the goal of identifying fundamental mechanisms of malignant transformation and uncovering vulnerabilities that may inform new therapeutic strategies.