1. Discovering RNA Chemical Sensors  In Cellulo with Chemical Tools	2. Dissecting the Biofunctions of Cellular RNA Chemical Sensors	3. Reprogramming RNA Chemical Sensors with Small Molecules
Technology-enabling | We develop chemical and sequencing tools to discover cellular RNA capable of chemical sensing.	Mechanism-driven | We study how chemical sensing by RNA impacts cellular state in health and disease.	Therapeutics-aspired | We aim to develop small-molecule modulators of RNA chemical sensors in pathology.

Our long-term goal is to unlock an understanding of the cellular RNAs capable of "chemical sensing" — a process that controls how RNAs receive and process cellular chemical state into biological instructions. From a fresh chemical perspective, we will examine how cells maintain or fail to maintain homeostasis in human physiology & disease.

It’s an exciting era for exploring the human transcriptome with small molecules. Despite substantial progress, various fundamental questions remain: Can RNAs selectively sense the cellular chemical environment? How do genes engrave such capabilities within the human transcriptome? What is the chemical space of reactive molecules that RNA can sense? How do cell signaling or metabolism modulate the cellular chemical environment in health and disease? How do chemical sensing modulate RNA structure, interactions, and functions? Technical challenges largely limit our ability to answer these questions, and our lab aims to develop new methodologies to bridge these gaps.