I work on how cells use chromatin to encode, stabilize, and rewire identity, and how to leverage those mechanisms to understand and engineer cell behavior. My approach pairs wet-lab genomics and bioengineering with computational analysis.
01Chromatin remodeling and T cell fate
My PhD work focuses on the BAF (mSWI/SNF) chromatin remodeling complex in T cells. In a 2023 Immunity paper (co-first author), we showed that canonical BAF activity shapes the enhancer landscape that licenses CD8⁺ T cell effector and memory fates. Loss of BAF function blocks the chromatin priming required for memory commitment, implicating BAF as a key regulator of T cell durability with direct relevance to next-generation cell therapies.
02Dynamic signaling and chromatin
The final chapter of my PhD is focused on how chromatin decodes dynamic signaling. Most chromatin profiling treats signaling as a static input, but cells in vivo encounter signals that vary in amplitude, duration, and timing. To get at this, I pair optogenetic control of signaling pathways with a simplified 96-well CUT&RUN protocol I built, mapping how time-varying inputs translate into changes in chromatin state and gene regulation.
03In vitro T cell engineering from stem cells
Earlier in the Crooks lab at UCLA, I contributed to the development of the artificial thymic organoid (ATO) system, a stromal cell-based platform for generating mature T cells from human hematopoietic stem cells in vitro. The original methodology (Nature Methods, 2017) and extensions in Cell Stem Cell (2019) and Cell Reports (2020) gave the field a tractable system to dissect human T cell development and to generate engineered T cells from iPSCs.
04Bioengineering and signaling dynamics
My MA work at UCSB with Max Wilson used optogenetic tools to perturb signaling pathways with quantitative control over timing and amplitude. The bioengineering perspective of that lab still shapes how I think about chromatin and cell-state transitions: dynamics, feedback, and hysteresis, rather than static localization.
05What I'm thinking about next
Where I want to push next is the intersection of chromatin biology and modern ML, with an eye toward therapeutic applications of chromatin engineering. More on this to come.