What drives cell fate - A deep dive into epigenomics
A stem cell needs to make a series of fate decisions when committing to one cellular lineage over
another. Cell fate is regulated by the interplay of multiple epigenomic layers — the collection of
molecular and structural modifications on top of the genome — such as chromatin accessibility.
Investigation and prediction of cell fate decisions would yield comprehensive insights into the
epigenomic rules governing genome function, which ultimately opens up new diagnostic and
therapeutic opportunities for human diseases. In this talk, I will present a recently developed single‐cell technology, SHARE‐seq, and its associated computational approach, Chromatin Potential, that reveal epigenomic mechanisms underlying cell fate decisions. I will also discuss the possibilities to leverage various microfluidic, single‐cell, and spatial technologies to investigate a broad range of biological systems and gain insights into gene regulation.
Dr. Sai Ma earned his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Chu Kochen Honors College at Zhejiang University. He then moved to the US and earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from a joint program between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest University. Mentored by Dr. Chang Lu, Sai developed microfluidics‐based assays for mapping epigenomes in a tiny amount of primary tissues. Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow joint between Aviv Regev Lab and Jason Buenrostro Lab at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. His research mainly focuses on developing cutting‐edge experimental and computational tools to investigate epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation in single‐cells across dynamic cell fate transitions. By integrating approaches across molecular biology, microfluidics, imaging, engineering, and bioinformatics, Sai seeks to elucidate the regulatory diversity of single cells within diverse healthy and diseased tissues, including skin differentiation, hematopoiesis, autoimmune diseases, and tumor progression. Leveraging technological innovations, he is an author of 2 patents, 29 publications, including 9 first‐author papers.
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