Research
Research directions
We investigate how cells form and maintain tissues, employing synthetic biology to engineer molecules that direct cellular adhesion and elucidate chemical principles of multicellular organization. Through developing these tools, we aim to advance cell therapies for cancer treatment and regenerative medicine.
Multicellular Organization
We use synthetic cell adhesion molecules to dissect the molecular rules of tissue self-organization, with the goal of building tissue models and advancing regenerative medicine.
Multicellular OrganizationTissue EngineeringRegenerative Medicine
Engineering T Cell Therapy
We design cell therapeutics that can specifically engage and eliminate tumors, creating tools that overcome existing limitations in how T cells traffic to and recognize solid tumors.
CAR-T Cell TherapySynthetic Immune SynapseT Cell Trafficking
Approach
How we work
Our methods span molecular to tissue scale, combining protein engineering, synthetic biology, and cancer immunotherapy
01
Protein Engineering
We design novel proteins using insights from structure, biophysics, and cell biology, combining computational and experimental approaches to build synthetic receptors.
Computational designReceptor engineeringSynthetic adhesion
02
Synthetic Biology
We give cells new adhesive identities using synthetic surface proteins, programming how they recognize each other and organize to uncover the molecular logic of multicellular life.
Synthetic receptorsCell engineeringMachine learning
03
Cell Therapy & Tissue Engineering
We apply synthetic biology principles to cell therapy and tissue engineering, using adhesion programs to direct T cells to tumors and to build tissue architectures from the ground up.
Tissue engineeringSynthetic immunologyOrganotropism
Contact
Get in touch
Stevens LabDepartment of Cancer Biology
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Kelley Research Building
421 Curie Blvd, Philadelphia PA 19104
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Kelley Research Building
421 Curie Blvd, Philadelphia PA 19104
