The Lee laboratory studies the mechanisms governing homeostatic turnover and reparative programs in stem cells, with a focus on elucidating how tissue perturbations lead to lung disease.
Projects:
Elucidate the behaviors of stem cells and their niches during lung development, regeneration and disease.
Define the cellular and molecular characteristics of damage-induced plasticity and its functional role in lung regeneration and disease.
Define the mechanisms that mediate mutant cell competition in the context of ageing, inflammation, and injury.
Understand human lung regeneration and disease by investigating tissue mechanics and developing ex vivo human lung models.
We investigate how stem cells perceive environmental changes and determine their cell fate, and how niches form and remodel the local environment during lung development, regeneration and disease. To address these fundamental questions, we employ a multidisciplinary approach integrating genetic mouse models with lineage-tracing techniques, primary mouse and human lung organoids with genetic tools, quantitative biophysical modeling of clonal dynamics with high-resolution imaging techniques, and single-cell biology with computational analysis. Our goal is to elucidate the normal process of lung dynamics and lay the foundation for understanding lung diseases and developing new therapeutic methods.
Publications Highlights
Choi J, Park JE, Tsagkogeorga G, Koo BK, Han N, and Lee JH. Inflammatory signals induce AT2 cell-derived Damage-Associated Transient Progenitors that mediate alveolar regeneration. Cell Stem Cell. 2020 Sep 3;27(3):366-82.e7.
Choi J, Jang YJ, Dabrowska C, Iich E, Evans K.V, Hall H, Janes S.M, Simons B.D, Koo BK, Kim J, Lee JH. Release of Notch signalling coordinated by inflammation confers cross-compartment differentiation plasticity during alveolar regeneration. Nature Cell Biology. 2021 Sep;23(9):953-966.
Youk J, Kim T, Evans K.V, Jeong YI, Hur Y, Hong SP, Kim JH, Yi K, Kim SY, Na KJ, Bleazard T, Kim HM, Fellows M, Mahbubani K.T, Saeb-Parsy K, Kim SY, Kim YT, Koh GY, Choi BS, Ju YS, Lee JH. Three-dimensional human alveolar stem cell culture models reveal infection response to SARS-CoV-2. Cell Stem Cell. 2020 Dec 3;27(6):905-19.e10.
Ombrato L, Nolan E, Kurelac I, Mavousian A, Bridgeman V, Heinze I, Chakravarty P, Horswell S, Gonzales-Gualda E, Matacchione G, Weston A, Kirkpatrick J, Husain E, Speirs V, Collinson L, Ori A, Lee JH#, Malanchi I#. Metastatic-niche labelling reveals parenchymal cells with stem features. Nature. 2019 Aug;572(7771):603-08.
The Lee laboratory studies the mechanisms governing homeostatic turnover and reparative programs in stem cells, with a focus on elucidating how tissue perturbations lead to lung disease.
PhD, Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Rockefeller Research Laboratories 430 East 67th Street Room RRL-101 New York, NY 10065
Open Positions
To learn more about available postdoctoral opportunities, please visit our Career Center
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General Opportunity
We are looking for highly motivated, reliable, and collaborative scientists of all levels (Research technician, Graduate student, Postdoctoral fellow) interested in addressing fundamental questions in development, tissue regeneration, tissue engineering, and early oncogenesis.