As a key member of the Columbia Center for Human Development (CCHD) and the Columbia Center for Stem Cell Therapies (CSCT), and an affiliated member of the Columbia Stem Cell Initiative (CSCI) and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), our lab devotes itself to deciphering the molecular mechanisms of totipotency and pluripotency to understand development and disease. Our research encompasses the "R2-D2 Research" theme intersecting with Developmental Biology, Reproductive Biology, Caner Biology, and Virology (see Figure above). We employ genetic, genomic, and proteomic approaches combined with cellular and animal models to elucidate the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, post-translational, and epigenetic mechanisms underlying the stemness (totipotency and pluripotency) control. 
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Our ongoing research projects encompass the following four major areas:

Stem Cell and Developmental Potency 
We study totipotent stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, and expanded pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation to understand zygotic genome activation and early development

Germline Stem Cells and Reproductive Biology
We study primordial germ cells (PGCs), spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs), and their in vitro/in vivo differentiation to understand germ cell development and male (in)fertility   

Cancer Stem Cell and Stem Cell Cancer
​We study the new roles of pluripotency factors in cancer stemness

Stem Cell Antiviral Immunity
​We study the intrinsic antiviral immunity of pluripotent stem cells