Dr. Shen studies the fundamental mechanisms of transcriptional control underlying cellular function. Her research utilizes human pluripotent stem cells to model development and complex diseases as well as innovative genomic and genetic tools to investigate how regulatory elements affect gene expression. Her lab focuses on elucidating the causal relationship between genetic and epigenetic variations at regulatory sequences, e.g. enhancers and neurodevelopment and neurological diseases, and how these factors interplay to control gene regulation in mammalian cells.