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Pulin Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and a Core Member of the Whitehead Institute at MIT. His research focuses on quantitatively understanding genetic circuits that create multicellular behavior in both natural and synthetically engineered systems. He is particularly fascinated by how cells organize into spatial patterns within tissues, aiming to uncover the fundamental design principles that govern tissue form and function. Pulin adopts a bottom-up approach to reconstitute multicellular patterns in vitro using synthetic biology tools, guided by mathematical modeling. Concurrently, he investigates how patterns emerge in natural tissues and examines their functional roles. This work integrates techniques such as quantitative imaging, mouse genetics, machine learning, and stem cell engineering. Currently, his primary focus is on the patterning of embryonic and adult lung tissues, working toward achieving a quantitative, multi-scale understanding of tissue development to create new strategies for tissue engineering.