Junior Grants 2025-2026

Modulating Liver Regeneration to Restrain Tumor Growth

Tumor invasion into the liver triggers a regenerative response that can either promote invasion or encapsulate the tumor in a reparative capsule. In this project, we explore whether modulating this regenerative response can restrain tumor growth, using liver metastases models and clinical samples. With pharmacological and CRISPR-based approaches, we aim to amplify or suppress liver regeneration and assess its impact on tumor invasion. By integrating spatial imaging and single-cell analyses, we seek to uncover key tumor-liver interactions. In the long run, our findings could drive novel regeneration-based therapies against aggressive liver tumors.

Click-and-trace: Precision tracking of therapeutic cells using bioorthogonal click chemistry

Cell-based therapies are demonstrating exceptional potential in the clinical setting. However, there is an immense gap in understanding what happens to the cells after their injection. In 60-80% of immunotherapy and 15-30% of stem cell therapy cases this leads to persistently ineffective treatments. To irrefutably determine the fate of the cells, my team is developing an innovative strategy to track the cells in the body using bioorthogonal click chemistry and molecular imaging. 

Data-driven engineering of transcriptional networks for regenerative medicine via synthetic biology

Synthetic biology seeks to make biology easier to engineer by combining advances in genome engineering, computer algorithms, nucleotide synthesis and sequencing. This project will use synthetic biology to address two key challenges in regenerative medicine: improving the quality of stem cell differentiation using data-driven gene circuitry, and developing therapeutic cells that carry designer gene programs for regenerative functions. 

Scalable mapping of neural circuit assembly and dysfunction at molecular resolution

The mammalian brain contains many different neuron types which form neural circuits with remarkable precision. Single-cell RNA-seq is a powerful tool to catalogue the diversity of neuron types in the mammalian brain, but the molecular logic governing circuit assembly and maintenance remains obscure. 

We will employ a novel approach based on barcoded circuit tracing and 3D intact-tissue RNA-seq for high-throughput mapping of synaptic networks. Comparative circuit tracing across different mouse models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will uncover the impact of mutations in ASD risk genes on neuronal cell identity and wiring.