Hernandez-Lopez Lab
Principal Investigator: Rogelio Antonio Hernandez-Lopez
Institution: Stanford University (Stanford, CA)
Primary Subfield: Synthetic Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students
Research Focus
Project Summary My laboratory combines mechanistic cell biology with synthetic biology, focusing on understanding cellular behaviors like recognition and communication. We aim to advance the applications of engineered multicellular systems, particularly in engineered T cells targeting solid tumors. Our research has a foundation on two main questions. 1) How can we engineer highly specific cellular recognition? We seek to understand the limits and synergies of strategies for enhancing cellular specificity. Through a comparative analysis of synthetic circuits, we will explore mechanisms such multi-step signaling, and molecular titration to optimize T cell discrimination of tumors from bystander tissue based on antigen density. We also aim to uncover general principles for engineering gene expression systems and its relationship with genome organization. This may lead to general rules to engineer robust circuit behavior that could help in therapeutics. 2) how does multicellular organization affect cellular recognition? In addressing the complexity and heterogeneity of tumors, we aim for a quantitative understanding of how tissue architecture impacts T cell activity. Using an engineere…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35GM155437-03: Antigen Density Sensors for Cell Engineering (2026)
- 5R35GM155437-02: Antigen Density Sensors for Cell Engineering (2025)
- 1R35GM155437-01: Antigen Density Sensors for Cell Engineering (2024)
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