The Cao lab is developing a new tool to understand how different cells respond to viral infections by capturing viral preference for targeting different host cells according to viral and host genetic factors. This will lead to a better understanding of cell-type specificity for many different infectious diseases, creating a valuable tool for infectious disease research.
Development and function of mammalian tissues and organs depend on the behaviors and dynamics of individual cells. The Cao lab investigates how a cell population in a mammalian body maintains homeostasis and how it is disrupted in cancer and aging-related disorders. They develop genomic techniques to profile and perturb cell dynamics at single-cell resolution.
