Piyush Gupta

Biography

Piyush Gupta studies the mechanisms that generate and maintain cellular diversity in adult tissues and how the subversion of these mechanisms contributes to cancer. His laboratory investigates the genetic and cellular processes that govern adult and cancer stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. An improved comprehension of these processes is of fundamental interest in biology and would also facilitate the development of therapies for a broad range of diseases including cancer.

Research Interest

The mammary gland is well-suited for studies of tissue regeneration and homeostasis since its epithelium compartment must undergo regenerative proliferation, terminal differentiation and regression during each cycle of pregnancy and lactation. Moreover, the mouse mammary gland is an excellent system for studies of stem and progenitor cell biology, since the epithelial portion of the gland can be cleared and reconstituted via transplantation of donor cells.  Using a combination of experimental, technological and computational approaches, the Gupta laboratory is developing novel methods to probe and elucidate the cellular and signaling processes that control mammary stem- and progenitor-cell behavior. A second area of interest for the laboratory is characterizing how perturbations in cell-state regulation contribute to cancer progression and therapy resistance. Cancer cells acquire malignancy in proportion to the degree to which they are able to access primitive stem- and progenitor-like states that are normally restricted to cells within specialized tissue niches. The ability to access stem-like states enables cancer cells to survive many forms of therapy and also promotes metastatic progression. The Gupta laboratory is working to elucidate the signaling mechanisms that facilitate entry of cancer cells into more primitive states. The laboratory is also studying the signaling mechanisms activated in these primitive states that enable cancer cells to become highly malignant.   Finally, Gupta is interested in the role of stochasticity in fate decisions at the single-cell level. Gupta’s laboratory is using a combination of experimental and computational approaches to build stochastic models of state transitions in cellular populations. These studies will shed light on how tissues maintain phenotypic equilibrium even with inherent randomness in molecular processes. Piyush Gupta studied Mathematics and Biological Chemistry at the University of Chicago. He received his Ph.D.in Biology from MIT in 2006 and conducted post-doctoral research at the Broad Institute.