Project 1. Drug screening for rare diseases using patient-derived organoids
- Rare diseases: A rare disease, also known as an orphan disease, is a condition that affects a small percentage of the population. There are over 7,000 rare diseases, and together they affect an estimated 400 million people worldwide. Many rare diseases are genetic in nature and present in childhood, with 30% of afflicted children not living to see their fifth birthday. So far, organoid drug screening has focused on cancer. Taking advantage of patient-derived organoids, we analyze the characteristics of rare diseases to develop and/or repurpose drugs to cure these diseases.
Project 2. Organoid genetic screening
- Aging: Aging is a phenotype of the functional decline of organisms. The advances of modern medicine have allowed humans to live longer, inducing a variety of aging-related diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Understanding the mechanisms of aging and aging-associated diseases can help in the development of interventions and treatments that can delay or prevent the onset of these diseases and improve the quality of life in older adults. Our work tries to identify novel genes involved in aging mechanisms and uses organoids to improve our knowledge about aging and develop interventions against aging.
- The circadian rhythm: The circadian rhythm consists of changes of gene expression in many living organisms, including humans, animals, and plants. It regulates various physiological and behavioral processes, such as the sleep-wake cycle, hormone production, body temperature, and the metabolism. Moreover, it has also been linked to multiple diseases, including cancer and diabetes. Our research aims to identify functional genes related to the circadian rhythm and the physiological effects of circadian gene regulation using organoids.
