The goal of our research is to create human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) neural differentiation models for studying the cellular and molecular basis of human neural development and pathogenesis of neurological disorders, and to develop stem cell regenerative medicine to treat neurological disorders. We focus on (i) establishing patient-derived and disease-specific hiPSCs; (ii) Modeling neurodevelopmental/neurodegenerative disorders (e.g. Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease) and finding new therapeutics using hiPSC-based in vitro brain organoid and in vivo human chimeric mouse brain models; and (iii) differentiating hiPSCs towards neural lineages for regenerative medicine and developing hiPSC-based cell therapies utilizing animal models of human CNS injuries (e.g. brain hypoxic-ischemic injury). We have been using a combination of multidisciplinary techniques in our research, including stem cell reprogramming, electrophysiology/patch-clamp recording, imaging techniques, RNA-sequencing techniques, molecular/cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, transgenic and surgically induced animal models, and animal behavioral testing.
