Leveraging immune cell development to target disease
The Yiu Lab investigates how T cells and other immune cell lineages develop. Our goal is to translate fundamental biology into therapies for autoimmunity, autoinflammation, and immunodeficiency. We integrate mechanistic cellular immunology with genome editing and multi-omics in induced pluripotent cells and thymic organoid platforms.
Patient-informed genome editing for autoimmune and autoinflammatory disease
Many people live with pathogenic genetic variants, yet each individual mutation is rare. We partner with clinicians across specialties to identify and care for patients with monogenic variants, then bring those insights back to the lab. Our goal is a bedside-to-bench-to-bedside loop, detect disease-causing mutations, understand their biology, design precise genome-editing strategies, and assess their potential as therapy for patients.
Species-specific control of thymopoiesis by key transcription factors
RORγT is a molecular “switch” that helps make inflammatory T cells implicated in multiple autoimmune diseases like psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis. Because blocking this switch caused cancers and abnormal T cell development in mice thymi, we study how it operates in humans vs mice. We aim to define the mechanisms driving its conserved and divergent roles, and clarify the clinical feasibility RORγT-targeted therapies.
Regulatory T cells act like the immune system’s brakes, but they’re scarce and can be unreliable. Together with the Crooks Lab, we use gene editing and induced pluripotent stem cell platforms to direct the development of stable, functional suppressor and regulatory T cells — laying the groundwork for scalable cell therapies for autoimmunity.
Engineering suppressor T cells from progenitor cells
“Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity.”
— Mae C. Jemison