Lei Chen
Professor, Ph.D. Supervisor
Email: leichen@seu.edu.cn
Address: Room D103, Huichuan Building, Jiangbei Campus, Southeast University
Professor Lei Chen is a leading young scholar at Southeast University, serving as a Ph.D. supervisor and Deputy Dean. She was selected for the National Talent Program. She is the Chief Young Scientist for the National Key R&D Program and the Jiangsu Distinguished Young Scholar. She completed her Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Wen-Luan Wendy Hsiao at Hong Kong Baptist University, focusing on gut microbial dysbiosis in tumorigenesis and the manipulation of gut microbiota during cancer therapy. Her postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Verzi at Rutgers University expanded her understanding of how transcription factors contribute to intestinal homeostasis. In 2022, she was appointed as a professor in the School of Life Science and Technology at Southeast University.
Research Contributions
· Establishing novel mechanisms of BMP signaling pathway in intestinal cell differentiation and identifying key factors determining the fate of intestinal absorptive cell lineages;
· Unveiling critical metabolic regulatory mechanisms in intestinal stem cell renewal;
· Discovering transcriptional regulatory networks essential for intestinal development;
· Revealing the role of the TGF-β signaling pathway in intestinal regeneration and proposing innovative therapeutic strategies for intestinal injury.
Professor Chen has published 18 papers as the first or corresponding author in prestigious international journals such as Nature Genetics, Cell Stem Cell, Gastroenterology, and Nature Communications. She has also co-authored 17 additional papers in journals like Genes & Development, PNAS, and Cancer Research. For her discovery of the feedforward regulation between transcription factor HNF4 and tumor suppressor genes in the intestine, she was awarded the Gallo Award for Outstanding Cancer Research and the Early-Career Investigator Fellowship Award.
She has extensive experience in leading and participating in research projects, including those funded by the New Jersey Cancer Research Commission. Currently, she leads multiple projects, such as grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program for Young Scientists, the Jiangsu Distinguished Young Scholars Program, and the Nanjing Overseas Returnee Innovation Program. She has also contributed to several U.S. NIH R01 projects, Hong Kong Research Grants Council projects, and Macau Science and Technology Development Fund projects.
Research Interests
Professor Chen's research group aims to establish an integrated research platform to leverage the benefits of the gut. Using tools such as bioinformatics, mouse genetics, epigenetics, metabolomics, organoid culture, and metagenomics, the group explores novel mechanisms regulating intestinal homeostasis and identifies potential therapeutic targets for treating intestinal disorders.
Recent Representative Publications
1. Tao X., Zou L., Fang W., Zhang R., Liang J., Wang Y. *, Chen L.*, Optimizing TPD-based Oncology Drug Development: The Critical Role of PDR Distribution in POI-positive Cancer Cells. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, 2024, (Accepted)
2. Chen L.* and Xu X., Mouse Small Intestinal Organoid Cultures, In: Methods in Molecular Biology. Springer, New York, NY, 2024, (invited chapter)
3. Zhang R., Perekatt A., Chen L.*, Metabolic regulation of intestinal homeostasis: molecular and cellular mechanisms and diseases. MedComm, 2024; 5(11):e776 (invited review)
4. Chen L.*, Qiu X., Dupre A., Pellon-Cardenas O., Fan X., Xu X., Rout P., Walton K.D., Burclaff J., Zhang R., Fang W., Ofer R., Logerfo A., Vemuri K., Bandyopadhyay S., Wang J., Barbet G., Wang Y., Gao N., Perekatt A.O., Hu W., Magness S.T., Spence J.R., Verzi M.P.*, TGFB1 induces fetal reprogramming and enhances intestinal regeneration. Cell Stem Cell, 2023, 30(11):1520-1537
5. Fang W., Zhang R., Liang J., Xie W., Zhang Y., Chen L.*, Wang Y.*, Cereblon: a promising E3 ligase for broad-spectrum anticancer PROTAC drug development? Pharmacological Research, 2023, 196, 106901
6. Chen L.*, Luo S., Dupre A., Vasoya R.P., Parthasarathy A., Aita R., Malhotra R., Hur J., Toke N.H., Chiles E., Yang M., Cao W., Flores J., Ellison C.E., Gao N., Sahota A., Su X.Y., Bonder E.M., Verzi M.P.*,The nuclear receptor HNF4 drives a brush border gene program conserved across murine intestine, kidney, and embryonic yolk sac. Nature Communications, 2021, 12(1):2886
7. Chen L., Cao W., Aita R., Aldea D., Flores J., Gao N., Bonder E.M., Ellison C.E., Verzi M.P.*, Three-dimensional interactions between enhancers and promoters during intestinal differentiation depend upon HNF4. Cell Reports, 2021, 34(4):108679
8. Chen L., Vasoya R.P., Toke N.H., Parthasarathy A., Luo S., Chiles E., Flores J., Gao N., Bonder E.M., Su X.Y., Verzi M.P.*, HNF4 regulates fatty acid oxidation and is required for renewal of intestinal stem cells in mice. Gastroenterology, 2020, 158(4):985-999
9. Chen L., Toke N.H., Luo S., Vasoya R.P., Fullem R.L., Parthasarathy A., Perekatt A.O., Verzi M.P.*, A reinforcing HNF4-SMAD4 feed-forward module stabilizes enterocyte identity. Nature Genetics, 2019, 51(5):777-785
10. Chen L.*, Marishta A., Ellison C.E., Verzi M.P.*, Identification of Transcription Factors Regulating SARS-CoV-2 Entry Genes in the Intestine. Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2021; 11(1): 181-184
11. Chen L., Toke N.H., Luo S., Vasoya R.P., Aita R., Parthasarathy A., Tsai Y.H., Spence J.R., Verzi M.P.*, HNF4 factors control chromatin accessibility and are redundantly required for maturation of the fetal intestine. Development, 2019, 146(19). pii: dev179432 (cover story)
12. Kumar N1, Tsai Y.H.1, Chen L.1, Zhou A.B., Banerjee K.J., Saxena M., Huang S., Toke N.H., Xing J.C., Shivdasani R.A., Spence J.R., Verzi M.P.*, The lineage-specific transcription factor CDX2 navigates dynamic chromatin to control distinct stages of intestine development. Development, 2019, 1;146(5). pii: dev172189 (1co-first author)
Complete List of Published Articles: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7812-508X
