Heraclitus said, ‘Life is flux’.
Yet life is also homeostasis— a dynamic balance within constant change.
Homeostasis is maintained across multiple levels. Within cells, biomolecules form functionally diverse molecular networks – including metabolic, signaling, and gene regulatory networks – that collectively maintain cellular homeostasis through complex coordinated interactions. In multicellular systems, this complexity expands hierarchically as specialized tissues emerge, each maintaining tissue-specific functions while engaging in sophisticated inter-tissue communication to keep whole-organism homeostasis.
Our lab aims to uncover the fundamental principles of molecular network and tissue coordination under various physiological and perturbed conditions. Specifically, we focus on the following research directions:
Developing Next-generation Systems Biology Tools
We develop integrated experimental and computational tools that:
Enable high-throughput genetic and environmental perturbations
Generate high-resolution molecular phenotypes
Construct theoretical models
These tools operate across molecular, cellular, and tissue levels, aiming to uncover how biological systems maintain homeostasis under diverse conditions. Our next-generation systems biology platforms not only drive our own discoveries but also empower the broader research community to investigate complex biological systems with greater depth and precision.
Molecular Networks Coordination in Maintaining Cellular Homeostasis
Leveraging next-generation systems biology tools—such as Worm Perturb-Seq—we systematically investigate functional relationships between genes to uncover:
- The wiring of molecular networks
- The interaction between molecular networks
We are particularly interested in how metabolic, signaling, and gene regulatory networks (GRN) coordinate to maintain cellular homeostasis under various physiological and perturbed conditions.
Multi-Tissue Coordination in Maintaining Organismal Homeostasis
Our advanced systems biology tools enable us to systematically study how different tissues coordinate to maintain organismal homeostasis. Currently, our research focuses on two key questions:
- How do metabolic or signaling networks coordinate within each tissue?
- How do tissues communicate through metabolic and signaling networks?
To address these questions, we employ whole-organism models such as C. elegans and zebrafish, as well as human assembloid model. This integrative approach enables us to uncover fundamental principles of multi-tissue coordination and facilitates the translation of these discoveries into clinical applications.