Dr. Christopher Lengner

Biography

Christopher Joachim Lengner is a Professor in the Department of Cell Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. in Cell Molecular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, awarded in 2004. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate stem cell potency and the dysregulation mechanisms that contribute to disease onset and progression, particularly in oncogenesis. His laboratory employs genetic, genomic, and single-cell analysis approaches in murine systems to address fundamental biological questions and also utilizes human induced pluripotent cells from patient samples to translate findings into human systems. His research has identified novel pathways that underlie somatic stem cell self-renewal during the ontogeny of hematopoietic and gastrointestinal cancers, with ongoing assessments of potential therapeutic intervention points for these cancers and diseases related to regenerative failure. A significant aspect of his work involves unraveling the hierarchical structure of the intestinal stem cell compartment, aiming to understand how perturbations in this hierarchy contribute to disease states, including cancer, chronic inflammation, and the regenerative response to acute injuries from ischemia and radiation damage.

Research Interests