Frank Laboratory

Science

WHAT WE DO

The goal of our lab is to regenerate tissue for children and infants with congenital heart defects and lung
disease. However, a thorough understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms
governing normal development of the heart and lung is critical. As such, we are applying novel
ex vivo modeling, advanced imaging and image process of static and live tissue, single cell and
population RNA sequencing, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, and transgenic mouse modeling to
unravel mechanisms of cardiopulmonary development. Subsequently, we use our novel
discovery of important fetal programs and apply this to cardiopulmonary tissue regeneration.

To accomplish this, our laboratory is focused on 3 areas of research;

1. Cell fate in alveolar lung development
2. Epithelial-endothelial interactions in alveolar lung epithelial and vascular development
3. Mechanisms of cell fate establishment in cardiopulmonary vasculature