About the Lab

The long-term objective of the Chen laboratory is to identify novel mechanisms that can be targeted for developing innovative treatments for cancer and other recalcitrant human diseases. Their research focus for two decades has been on ubiquitin-like (Ubl) modifications, the regulation of which influences major oncogenic pathways and anti-tumor immunity. Even though more than 1000 enzymes/proteins are involved, Ubl modifications have been poorly addressed by FDA approved drugs, and thus are an untapped resource for new therapeutic development. The Chen laboratory has made major contributions to the discovery of new chemical and biochemical approaches to target Ubl modifications and to the elucidation of small ubiquitin-like modification (SUMO)-mediated cellular regulatory mechanisms. Her research program is transdisciplinary involving collaborations with other academic laboratories, clinicians and biotech industry.

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We have several postdoctoral and predoctoral positions available. Please visit this page for more information.

 
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Meet the Team

Yuan Chen

Principal Investigator

Debbie Chen

Graduate Student
Debbie is a Ph.D. student from the Department of Bioengineering at UCSD. Originally from Taiwan, Debbie attended University of Washington and graduated with a BS in Bioengineering. She is focusing on the development of a novel therapeutic platform to target tumors using immunotherapy.

Asimina Courelli

Surgical Resident
Dr. Courelli obtained her M.D. from UCSD, and is currently a surgical resident at UCSD. She is currently working jointly with Yuan Chen’s and Andrew Lowy’s labs to investigate SUMOylation as a mechanistic target for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Neranjan Mohottige Don, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow
Neranjan's research focuses on investigating the role of SUMOylation inhibition in T cell mediated antitumor response. Neranjan obtained B.S. in Molecular biology and Biochemistry from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and a M.S in Molecular biology from the University of Hertfordshire, U.K. His Ph.D. (Jeju National University, South Korea) focused on understanding the fish immune system. He had postdoctoral training at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope on Androgen signaling in T cell function and prostate cancer development.

Terry Huang

Graduate Student
Terry is currently a Chemistry graduate student at UCSD. After finishing high school in Taiwan, they obtain their B.S. degree in biochemistry with minor in computer science at University of California, San Diego. They conduct undergraduate research in Komives lab, focusing on data analysis of disordered transactivation domain of transcription factor and assist in expression NFkB for FRET experiments. Their current project in the lab right now focused on the binding kinetic of small molecules to Ubr1 and crystallization and structure determination of Ubr1 bound to small molecules.

Yixuan Kuang

Graduate Student
Yixuan is a bio-chemistry grad student in Yuan Chen lab. He currently studies immune therapy combinations to treat head and neck cancer.

He enjoys golfing, weightlifting, and watching films after lab.

Leonie Ren

Graduate Student
Leonie a biochemistry graduate student at UCSD. She conducted her undergraduate research on the mechanism of arginine transporter CAT-1 in regulating Tfh/Tfr balance and promoting the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. She is currently
working on the role of SUMOylation inhibition in pancreatic cancer liver metastasis.

Azwa Shariff

Undergraduate Student
Azwa is a third year undergrad student at UCSD majoring in Neurobiology. Her work at Chen Lab involves working with mouse models and assisting in investigating the role of SUMOylation inhibition in anti-tumor response through various molecular techniques. She is eager to expand her skill set in research and ultimately connect scientific discovery to patient care to advance cancer treatment.

Abhigna Srikantam

Undergraduate Student
Abhigna is a 3rd-year undergraduate student at UCSD studying Neurobiology. She is a research assistant in our lab, focusing on SUMOylation inhibition and its relation to anti-tumor response.

Jessica Johnston

Administrative Assistant

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  • A birthday celebration

  • An outing with the lab

Lab Alumni

Ph.D. and postdoctoral trainee alumni

Kevin Li, M.D.
Tae Mi Yoon, Ph.D.
Nikhil Chilakapati, B.S. UCSF
Madeleine Fass
Bailey Lucich, B.S., UCSD
Tharindumala Abeywardana, Ph.D. Scientist III at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Xuanjun Ai, Ph.D. Professor, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Grace Aldana-Masangkay, Ph.D.Scientist, Fulgent Genetics
Aileen Alontaga, Ph.D. Research Scientist, Moffitt Cancer Center
Maria V. Botuyan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic
Chih-Hong Chen, Ph.D. Staff Scientist, City of Hope
Li Du, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor, City of Hope
Nona Ehyaei, Ph.D. Scientist, Lycia Therapeutics
Abdelfattah Faouzi Scientist, DTx Pharma
Suhkmann Kim, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry, Pusan National University, Korea
James Lee Research Associate, Scale Biosciences
Pei-chuan Li, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, Simcere Innovation
Baozong Li, Ph.D. Study Director, Crown Bioscience, Inc
Yifei Li, Ph.D. Visiting Fellow, NCI, NIH
Yi-Jia Li, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, City of Hope
Donghai Lin, Ph.D. Professor, Xiamen University, China
Ikenna Madu, Ph.D. Senior Manager-Strategic alliances and Business development Oregon Health and Science University
Kristen McCue, Ph.D. Technical Director, University of Texas
Andrew Namanja, Ph.D. Principal Research Scientist, AbbVie
Jing Song, Ph.D. Research Director, BeiGene Inc.
Yang Su, Ph.D.
Nicole Thomas, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, Mirati Therapeutics
Khue Truong, Ph.D. Principal Scientist, Gensun Biopharma
Jianghai Wang, Ph.D. Senior Scientist, Boston Biochem
Thomas Wilkinson, Ph.D. Consultant
Yate-Ching Yuan, Ph.D. Director of the Bioinformatic Core Facility, City of Hope
Ziming Zhang, Ph.D., Abzena Inc, Pennsylvania
Linyang Zhu, Ph.D. Research Specialist, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign