Our research
RESEARCHÂ Â
Intestinal stem cell biology Lab
The gastrointestinal epithelium is one of the tissues with highest self-renewing rates under steady-state conditions, thereby constituting an excellent model to better understand how adult stem cells contribute to tissue homeostasis, damage-induced regeneration processes or cancer. We combine in vivo mouse studies and ex vivo organoid technology to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in embryonic-to-adult transition and regenerative processes in adults. Among the large family of GPCRs expressed in the gut, we focus our interest on Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptors LGR4/LGR5 that regulate intestinal stem cell survival and lineage differentiation in the intestine, and olfactory receptors (Olfr78/OR51E2 and Olfr588/OR51E1) ectopically expressed in the colon that promote enteroendocrine subtype differentiation– regeneration processes