Jun Chen, PhD

  • Professor, Neurology

Phone

412-648-1263

E-mail

chenj2@upmc.edu

Education & Training

MD, Shanghai Medical University (1983)

Campus Address

S-507 Biomedical Science Tower

One-Line Research Description

Mechanisms of cell death and neuroprotection in cerebral ischemia and Parkinson's disease

Dr. Chen is the RK Mellon Endowed Professor and Director of the Center of Cerebrovascular Disease Research in the School of Medicine.

Dr. Chen's laboratory is interested in molecular mechanisms of neuronal cell death associated with cerebral ischemia or Parkinson's disease. The work focuses on determining the role of programmed cell death and mitochondrial dysfunction in cellular and animal models. The main theme of this research is that elucidation of the signaling mechanisms underlying the pathologic neurodegenerative processes in the brain may help identify new targets for future therapeutic intervention of the disease. The lab is currently investigating the specific signaling molecules and pathways that trigger mitochondrial apoptosis and downstream caspase-dependent or caspase-independent cell death-execution cascades in neurons.

Another main area of interest of Dr. Chen's laboratory is to elucidate the role of oxidative DNA damage and repair in ischemic brain injury, focusing on the mechanisms associated with the base-excision repair (BER) pathway in neuronal injury. The evolution of oxidative DNA damage, such as single-strand breaks and AP sites, is an early determinant of neuronal cell death or survival in cerebral ischemia. As a highly inducible process, BER is the key mechanism responsible for the repair of various oxidative DNA damage in the brain. This line of research is based on the belief that manipulation of cellular BER activity may markedly impact the vulnerability of neurons to ischemic challenges.

Representative Publications


HyCLASSS: A Hybrid Classifier for Automatic Sleep Stage Scoring.
Li X, Cui L, Tao S, Chen J, Zhang X, Zhang GQ.
IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2017 Feb 17. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2017.2668993. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28222004
 
Molecular Engineering and Design of Semiconducting Polymer Dots with Narrow-Band, Near-Infrared Emission for In Vivo Biological Imaging.
Ke CS, Fang CC, Yan JY, Tseng PJ, Pyle JR, Chen CP, Lin SY, Chen J, Zhang X, Chan YH.
ACS Nano. 2017 Feb 21. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.7b00215. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28221751
 
Insights into the discrepant luminescence for BaSiO3 :Eu2+ phosphors prepared by solid-state reaction and precipitation reaction methods. Xu J, Zhao Y, Chen J, Mao Z, Yang Y, Wang D. Luminescence. 2017 Feb 21. doi: 10.1002/bio.3277. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28220634
 
Adenovirus-Mediated Small Interfering RNA Targeting TAK1 Ameliorates Joint Inflammation with Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Mice.
Luo X, Chen Y, Lv G, Zhou Z, Chen J, Mo X, Xie J.
Inflammation. 2017 Feb 21. doi: 10.1007/s10753-017-0534-4. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28220341
 
Genomic insights into divergence and dual domestication of cultivated allotetraploid cottons.
Fang L, Gong H, Hu Y, Liu C, Zhou B, Huang T, Wang Y, Chen S, Fang DD, Du X, Chen H, Chen J, Wang S, Wang Q, Wan Q, Liu B, Pan M, Chang L, Wu H, Mei G, Xiang D, Li X, Cai C, Zhu X, Chen ZJ, Han B, Chen X, Guo W, Zhang T, Huang X.
Genome Biol. 2017 Feb 20;18(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s13059-017-1167-5. PMID: 28219438
 
The impact of post-operative sepsis on mortality after hospital discharge among elective surgical patients: a population-based cohort study. Ou L, Chen J, Hillman K, Flabouris A, Parr M, Assareh H, Bellomo R. Crit Care. 2017 Feb 20;21(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s13054-016-1596-7. PMID: 28219408
 
[Immunotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma].
Chen J, Chen M, Wu HT. Zhonghua Er Bi Yan Hou Tou Jing Wai Ke Za Zhi. 2017 Feb 7;52(2):143-147. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-0860.2017.02.019. Chinese. PMID: 28219181
 
[Study on anemia and vitamin A and vitamin D nutritional status of Chinese urban pregnant women in 2010-2012].
Hu YC, Chen J, Li M, Wang R, Li WD, Yang YH, Yang C, Yun CF, Yang LC, Yang XG. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2017 Feb 6;51(2):125-131. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0253-9624.2017.02.006. Chinese. PMID: 28219150
 
[Study on vitamin A nutritional status of Chinese urban elderly residents in 2010-2012].
Chen J, Hu YC, Yang C, Yun CF, Wang R, Mao DQ, Li WD, Yang YH, Yang XG, Yang LC. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2017 Feb 6;51(2):121-124. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0253-9624.2017.02.005. Chinese. PMID: 28219149
 
[Study on vitamin A nutritional status of 6- to 17-year-old urban children and adolescents between 2010 and 2012 in China].
Zhang Y, Liu XB, Yang LC, Chen J, Wang R, Yang XG, Piao JH, Mao DQ. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2017 Feb 6;51(2):117-120. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0253-9624.2017.02.004. Chinese. PMID: 28219148
 
[The vitamin D nutritional status in Chinese urban women of child-bearing age from 2010 to 2012]. 
Lu JX, Liu XB, Chen J, Hu YC, Yun CF, Li WD, Wang R, Yang YH, Mao DQ, Piao JH, Yang XG, Yang LC. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2017 Feb 6;51(2):112-116. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0253-9624.2017.02.003. Chinese. PMID: 28219147