SCSAP MSS - May 18, 2026 Fei Chen - Broad/Harvard

SCSAP Monthly Seminar Series Date: Monday, May 18th, 2026 TITLE: Measuring, modeling, and reprogramming tissue organization FEATURING: Fei Chen, Ph.D., Associate professor Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Core Faculty member at the Broad Institute. ABSTRACT: Tissues are not simply collections of cell types, but organized multicellular communities whose structure across space and time helps determine function in development, homeostasis, aging, and disease. In this lecture, I will describe my lab’s efforts to define the principles by which molecularly distinct cells assemble into tissue architectures, communicate with one another, and change state in response to both local environment and cellular history. To address these questions, we develop and apply genomic technologies that preserve spatial organization, record aspects of cellular history, and connect molecular state to multicellular function. Using these approaches, we have mapped tissue architecture at single-cell resolution, identified how spatial context shapes cell state and cell-cell interactions, and begun to uncover signaling dependencies within diseased tissues. I will conclude by discussing our broader goal of moving from descriptive tissue maps toward predictive models and experimental strategies to measure, understand, and ultimately engineer tissue organization in vivo.