Decoding Cellular Dynamics Across Mammalian Aging Through Scalable Genomic Approaches
Event Details
- Type
- Monday Lecture Series
- Speaker(s)
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Junyue Cao, Ph.D., Fisher Center Foundation Assistant Professor and head, Laboratory of Single-Cell Genomics and Population Dynamics, The Rockefeller University
- Speaker bio(s)
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Aging is the primary risk factor for a wide range of diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Thus, directly targeting the aging process could be a powerful strategy to delay or prevent multiple age-related conditions. However, developing targeted anti-aging interventions remains particularly challenging due to the complex nature of aging, which involves alterations in hundreds of distinct cell types throughout the organism. Despite recent advances in genomic technologies, significant gaps remain in our understanding of how aging disrupts the homeostasis of diverse cell types essential for maintaining normal tissue functions. In this presentation, Dr. Cao will introduce a suite of advanced genomic technologies developed to map organism-wide cellular state transitions, track cell-type-specific temporal dynamics, quantify cell-cell spatial interactions, and assess single-cell multi-omic dynamics to hundreds of genetic perturbations. Together, these tools have enabled us to systematically map the temporal and spatial dynamics of cell populations across the organism, revealing critical features and regulatory mechanisms underlying aging-associated cellular dynamics. Coupling these high-throughput genomic approaches with targeted genetic and cellular perturbations further elucidates molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate diverse cell dynamics associated with aging and disease.
Junyue Cao received his B.S. in biological science from Peking University in 2010. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2019, where he also completed a postdoctoral position, both in the lab of Jay Shendure. Cao joined The Rockefeller University as assistant professor in 2020. He has received a AFAR/Hevolution New Investigator award, William Ackman and Neri Oxman Innovation Fund Award, a Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award, an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, a Sagol Network GerOmic Award for Junior Faculty, an Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Trust Research Award, a Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists, a Western Association of Graduate Schools and University Microfilms International Outstanding Innovation in Technology Award, and a Verna Chapman Young Scientist Award.
MLS lectures are only open to the RU community and will be taking place in Carson Family Auditorium and virtually via Zoom. Virtual participants are required to log in with their RU Zoom account and use their RU email address and password for authentication. We recommend signing out of VPN prior to logging in to the lecture. Please do not share the link or post on social media.
- Open to
- Campus Only