Degenerative diseases i.e., diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, organ failure etc., have emerged as the biggest health problems to our aging world. Applied biotechnologies with an attempt for developing regenerative medicines have gained the fastest growth over the last decade. These essential biotechnologies include the discovery of generating induced pluripotent stem cells from adult somatic cells, the emerging of DNA nucleases (e.g., TALENs, CRISPR/Cas9) mediated targeted genome editing in a wide range of somatic cells and organisms, the development of biologically compatible nanomaterials, the improvement of animal engineering, the advances in preclinical assessment and arising single cell and spatial sequencing technologies.

In our group, we focusing on the development, improvement and integration of these biotechnologies for developing better treatments for patients. Through collaborations, we share our outstanding resources, foster new partnerships, enhance communications, educate future talents, and together we generative regenerative solutions for medical problems.

DREAM is our missions, which stands for Decoding, Recoding, Editing, AI, and Medicine. Specifically, we are focusing on (1) Development and improvement of applied genome technologies; (2) Deciphering disease (diabetes complicates and cancers) mechanisms using advanced transcriptomics/genomics technologies and AI; (3) Developing novel and effective treatments for inherited human diseases, i.e., Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) through CRISPR gene editing and stem cell technologies; (4) Developing next generation genetically modified pigs for organ transplantation

GM Pigs

We develop genetically modified pigs for biomedical research and medicine, including:

Genetically tailored pig models for human diseases - for the development of new treatments.
Particularly, genetically modified pigs for organ transplantation, also known as xenotransplantation.

Genome Editing

We are developping CRISPR and non-CRISPR based precision genome/epigenome editing technologies, i.e.,

CRISPR-mediated gene knockout or knockin
CRISPR-mediated targeted DNA methylation
CRISPR-mediated gene interference or activation
Improvement of CRISPR design and specificity by deep learning
CRISPR base editing
Prime editing
Development of new gene editing tools

Gene Therapy

We develop CRISPR and stem cell-based therapy of inherited diseases:

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Type 1 diabetes

Multi-OMICS (Genome Science)

We apply next generation sequencing, single cell RNA/DNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and advanced bioinformatics to gain novel insights into:

The heterogeneity of cells in health and diseases
The molecular and metabolic reprogramming of cells in development and disease progression
The regulation of gene expression
The interaction between cell types
The molecular and cellular mechanisms of human diseases, i.e. diabetes complications

Cell therapy

We focus on the development of stem cell therapy for neuromuscular disorders, including DMD. Particularly, we focus on functional enhancement of stem cells through genetic engineering programs.

Artificial Intelligence

AI has been the fastest growing field. Here, our group is focusing on the development of AI models for biomedical sciences. Examples includes our AI models for CRISPR design, therapeutic CRISPR sgRNA selection. In addition, with our great knowledge and historical data in single-cell and spatial gene expression generated, we are developing AI virtual cell models for understanding of gene and cell functions, drug target identification, understanding of drug MOA. Our vision is AI for health.