Research Summary
The primary research focus for the Magnes lab is to investigate the genetic mechanisms that control intestinal and colonic stem cell maintenance and differentiation. They explore these mechanisms in physiology, injury and disease including inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. Of particular focus is understanding how Sox-transcription factors, mitogens and morphogens, and extracellular matrices control cell-fate decisions and stem cell self-renewal. Published studies have identified that cell populations once thought to be homogenous have quite heterogeneous gene expression signatures at the single-cell level, and thus many aspects of the experimental design focus on single-cell transcriptomics and single-cell imaging. His group pioneered organoid technologies in the USA and identified a number of challenges associated with organoid-based experiments. This motivated development of 2D monolayer and 3D ‘gut-on-chip’ platforms, and high-throughput/content analyses systems to assess functional properties of single stem cells, clonal and multicellular organoids (e.g. gut, stomach, pancreas), and biomimetic tissue constructs.
CGIBD Focus Area(s): Regeneration and Repair
Pilot and Feasibility Award 2011
Collaborators: Azcarate, Bhatt, Blikslager, Crook, Gonzalez, Rawls, Tamayo, Williamson
