Cai Lab
Principal Investigator: Haogang Cai
Institution: New York University (New York, NY)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Despite recent progresses in mechanobiology research, there is still a fundamental knowledge gap in critical cellular functions and molecular mechanisms, which take place between the molecular and cellular scale. For systematic, quantitative and deterministic studies, there are key challenges to achieve single-molecule precision, heteromolecular control, simultaneous and independent modulation of multiple physicochemical cues. Based on our unique approach combining top-down nanotechnology and bottom-up synthetic biology, we will overcome these challenges and create “smart” cell interfaces which could probe, sense and manipulate cells and the microenvironment, in an unparalleled precise and controllable manner. The overarching goal of my laboratory is to bring molecular insights into cell biology, and advance the knowledge of cell as a machine, whose behaviors and functions can be predicted and directed. Based on our discoveries in geometric underpinning of molecular mechanobiology, we will address three outstanding questions: (i) What underlies the spatial effects in receptor clustering, and how are they force- mediated? (ii) Are there heteromolecular spati…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35GM147406-05: Elucidating and Directing Heteromolecular Mechanobiology with Nanoengineered Cell Interfaces (2026)
- 5R35GM147406-04: Elucidating and Directing Heteromolecular Mechanobiology with Nanoengineered Cell Interfaces (2025)
- 5R35GM147406-03: Elucidating and Directing Heteromolecular Mechanobiology with Nanoengineered Cell Interfaces (2024)
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