Our Research

Research in the Shalek Lab is directed towards the creation and implementation of new technologies to understand how cells collectively perform systems-level functions in healthy and diseased states. We employ a comprehensive, five-step approach , developing innovative methodologies and applying them across multiple systems to empower more mechanistic inquiry and a deeper understanding of the rules that govern ensemble cellular behaviors.

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Featured Publications

SARS-CoV-2 receptor ACE2 is an interferon-stimulated gene in human airway epithelial cells and is detected in specific cell subsets across tissues
  • Ziegler et al.,
  • Cell,
  • 2020
Biology
Cell Atlas
Genomics
Immunology
Infectious Disease
Statistics
Carly Ziegler
Sam Allon
Sarah Nyquist
Vincent Miao
Constantine Tzouanas
Marc Wadsworth II
Sam Kazer
Travis Hughes
Benjamin Doran
James Gatter
Marko Vukovic
Ben Mead
Shaina Carroll
Alex K. Shalek
José Ordovas-Montañes

We analyze multiple datasets spanning organ systems in human and non-human primate to identify putative target cells of SARS-CoV-2. We establish the entry receptor, ACE2, to be an interferon-stimulated gene in human, but not murine, airway cells.

We profile the longitudinal immune dynamics of untreated HIV-1 infection in multiple individuals from pre-infection through chronic infection. We develop a framework to characterize temporally-correlated gene programs in different cell types.

Integrated single-cell analysis of multicellular immune dynamics during hyperacute HIV-1 infection
  • Kazer et al.,
  • Nature Medicine,
  • 2020
Biology
Computational Methods
Genomics
Immunology
Infectious Disease
Statistics
Sam Kazer
Toby Aicher
Shaina Carroll
José Ordovas-Montañes
Vincent Miao
Carly Ziegler
Sarah Nyquist
Alex K. Shalek
Seq-Well: portable, low-cost RNA sequencing of single cells at high throughput
  • Gierahn et al.,
  • Nature Methods,
  • 2017
Chemistry
Genomics
R&D
Technology
Travel
Marc Wadsworth II
Travis Hughes
Alex K. Shalek

We develop Seq-Well, a portable and inexpensive platform for high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing. We report robust transcriptional profiling on cell lines and primary human cells - and envision its use in dissecting complex clinical samples.

News

Alex and Lab Awarded NIDA Pioneer Award for HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder Research

April 30, 2021

We're incredibly grateful to receive an NIH Pioneer Award to define, at unprecedented resolution, how substance use disorders influence immune function and the response to HIV-1 and other pathogens by developing and applying innovative single-cell and bulk profiling and perturbation tools to inform the design of novel cure and prevention…

Cell Atlas of COVID-19 Pathology Released in Nature

April 29, 2021

Our collaborative cell atlases of multiple organs at autopsy from COVID-19 donors - a joint work with many at the Broad Institute and the broader research community - is now available in Nature here, and its accompanying press release here.

Alex Featured in Cell Systems

March 18, 2021

Alex was recently features in Cell Systems' "Voices" piece on the future of understanding cell behavior and cellular communities. Read his opinion, and that of other leading voices in the field, here.