In the emerging field of Systems Biology, the Shen lab tries to tackle complex biological questions from a system engineering perspective rather than treating individual reactions in an isolated fashion. Of particular interest are how individual cells make decisions in heterogeneous populations to form tissues, and how such decisions making processes are subverted by diseases like cancer. The Shen lab studies colorectal cancer, intestinal stem cells, and tuberculosis tissue remodeling to answer some of the fundamental questions and to pursue clinical therapeutics.