Living cells change over time. These cellular dynamics underpin health and disease, but remain mostly hidden from us and hard to understand. We are developing and applying new approaches to track cellular dynamics and resolve how cells and tissues change. These approaches leverage synthetic biological devices, deep sequencing, and single-cell and spatial multi-omics to reveal the dynamics of cell populations, states, and interactions. We ultimately seek to uncover the principles of how cells and tissues operate in development, homeostasis, and disease.

Extracellular vesicles mediate cell-cell communication and are a promising vehicle for drug delivery. However, the mechanisms that govern interactions between vesicles, cells, and tissues are poorly defined. We are using systematic approaches to reveal these mechanisms, including deciphering the molecular logic of vesicle biogenesis, trafficking, uptake, and cargo delivery. We aim to leverage this understanding to improve vesicle-based biotechnologies and drug delivery.