Advancing Science Through Research and Innovation
Welcome to our Lab. Our team is dedicated to advancing knowledge through cutting-edge research, using live microscopy, animal models, genetic and molecular tools to resolve the biological basis of tissue regeneration. Our mission is to understand how stem cells in adult tissues work and apply this knowledge to develop next generation therapies that regenerate organs which are afflicted by aging or disease
Our Research
Stem cells in skin regeneration and disease
Adult stem cells have the unique capacity to generate all the differentiated cell types within the tissue, while also maintaining their own pool throughout life. These properties make stem cells indispensable for the maintenance and regeneration of adult organs.
Our research seeks to answer the following fundamental questions: (a) which stem cells support tissue regeneration and how? (b) how the niche microenvironment regulates their activity? (c) how their abnormal behavior contributes to disease pathophysiology?
We are investigating these questions using the mammalian skin and eye as our primary model systems. We aim to leverage our knowledge to develop therapeutic strategies that activate and guide adult, tissue-resident stem cells to optimally support and regenerate organs that fail due to aging or disease.
Neuro-epithelial crosstalk in tissue regeneration
Stem cells rely on cues from their tissue microenvironment to regulate their activity. The skin and eye are highly innervated organs but the role of the peripheral nervous system in epithelial physiology has not been fully resolved. We discovered that in addition to their established sensory function, cutaneous nerves provide a regulatory niche for a unique population of stem cells in the skin epidermis, which specializes in injury response.
Our lab is also a proud member of the Ocular Surface Innervation Consortium, sponsored by the National Eye Institute. Through this effort we seek to broaden our understanding of the neural circuits involved in corneal innervation and their role in the physiology and disease of the ocular surface.
Corneal regeneration and therapeutics
The cornea is the primary window of our visual system, through which light is refracted and transmitted to the retina. The self-contained tissue organization, optical clarity, immune privilege and pronounced regenerative potential of the cornea make it a great model for basic and translational research in tissue regeneration. A major contribution was our discovery of distinct stem cell populations in the corneal stem cell niche, with diverse roles in tissue maintenance and wound healing.
In contrast to the epithelium, corneal endothelial cells do not regenerate and their decline due to aging or disease leads to loss of vision. To address this unmet clinical need we developed and validated an in vivo model of corneal endothelial dysfunction by high-throughput longitudinal live imaging. Moreover, we established a methodology for induced protein expression using locally delivered modified mRNA. Leveraging these tools we are developing novel therapeutics for corneal endothelial dystrophies and other ocular diseases.