We are leveraging human stem cell models combined with single cell “omics” to understand lung development, disease and regeneration. The SUDS Scholar will have the opportunity to bioinformatically determine the characteristics of elite cells that out-compete in a population to drive cell fate decisions and population characteristics. To do this, stem cells are genetically tagged through new DNA barcoding methods, for cellular lineage tracing as the stem cells differentiation into multiple cell types in culture. The goal is to unmask the genes/GRN regulating fitness of cells to better understand how cells emerge during development.

In human PSC differentiation towards lung epithelial cell phenotypes, a heterogenous population of progenitor cells emerge in culture that seemingly gives rise to different cell types. However, to better understand this, isolation of these progenitor cells is required to functionally and phenotypically interrogate their developmental potential. The SUDS Scholar will analyze single cell RNA sequencing datasets generated in the lab to computationally determine the expression of unique cell surface molecules that can be used to isolate each progenitor population for validation. The SUDS Scholar will get to use their computational skills to analyze large datasets to help identify new cells/genotype/phenotypes and GRN regulating human-specific developmental or disease mechanisms.