How are Human Cells Designed?

Did you know that hundreds of thousands of different types of proteins can contribute to behaviors of a single human cell, and that each of our bodies is composed of trillions of cells?


Why are cells engineered with this complexity? What principles are so fundamental to cellular design that they impact how we respond to drugs and whether our tissues can self-repair?

Answering these questions means we could define what healthy entails for human cells and open the door for therapies to re-engineer cells.

Techniques.pngWe develop integrated computational and experimental methods to answer key questions about the behaviors of stem, neurovascular and neuronal cells from their molecular signaling to tissue formation. Essential protein pathways involved in how humans adapted to sense oxygen guide these cells. By combining emerging methods in data science, modeling and cell-based assays we uncover how these oxygen sensitive pathways connect with thousands of other molecules to change the way cells grow and communicate. We use the information we learn from these studies and the computational tools we build to better target therapies for cancer patients and propose new strategies for regenerating brain tissue.

Click to learn about research in the Qutub Lab.