Jianjun Chen, Ph.D.

[email protected]
626-218-5628
Jianjun Chen, Ph.D.
Simms/Mann Family Foundation Chair in Systems Biology, Professor and Chair, Department of Systems Biology
Research Area
  • Systems Biology
Academic Appointments
  • Professor and Director, Center for RNA Biology and Therapeutics
Research Teams
Molecular and Cellular Biology
Jianjun Chen, Ph.D. joined Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope as a professor and vice chair of the Department of Systems Biology in October 2017, and then became chair of the Department of Systems Biology in August 2020. He also is the director of the Center for RNA Biology and Therapeutics. Before that, he had been serving as an associate professor of cancer biology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine for a few years, after moving from University of Chicago where he was an assistant professor of medicine.
 
Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China and then conducted postdoc training with Janet D. Rowley, M.D., at the University of Chicago. He launched his independent laboratory at the end of 2008 in the department of Medicine at the University of Chicago.
 
Dr. Chen has received a series of awards/honors such as Research Scholar of the American Cancer Society (2011), Scholar of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (2017), and Researcher of the Year, The Pamela B. Katten Memorial Leukemia Research Foundation Award (2014), as well as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar CDP Achievement Award (2022). Dr. Chen was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2023. Dr. Chen’s research program is currently supported by multiple R01 grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Location

Education & Experience

Degrees

  • 1999, Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry (now Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

  • 1994, B.S., Genetics. Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Fellowship

  • 1999-2001, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago

Professional Experience

  • 2024-present, Director, Center for RNA Biology and Therapeutics, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2021-2024, Deputy Director, Center for RNA Biology and Therapeutics, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2020-present, Professor and Chair, Department of Systems Biology, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2018-present, Simms/Mann Family Foundation Chair in Systems Biology, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2017-2020, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Systems Biology, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2015-2017, Associate Professor (with tenure), Department of Cancer Biology, University of Cincinnati

  • 2009-2014, Assistant Professor (tenure track), Department of Medicine, University of Chicago

  • 2005-2008, Research Associate (Assistant Professor), Department of Medicine, University of Chicago

  • 2004-2005, Research Associate (Instructor), Department of Medicine, University of Chicago

  • 2001-2004, Research Associate, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago

Research

Laboratory

The Chen Laboratory is dedicated to uncovering novel genetic and especially epigenetic regulatory mechanisms that govern normal development, tumorigenesis, and therapeutic resistance. Over the past decade, Dr. Chen and colleagues have focused extensively on both basic and translational research in the field of RNA and DNA epigenetics. The lab has made a series of seminal discoveries demonstrating the critical roles of RNA modifications, including N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A), 5-methylcytosine (m⁵C), and 7-methylguanosine (m⁷G), and their associated writers, erasers, and readers in regulating cancer initiation, progression, drug resistance, cancer stem cell self-renewal, metabolism, and immune evasion. 
 
In parallel, the Chen Laboratory has contributed significantly to the understanding of DNA epigenetic regulation, particularly through studies on TET proteins. Notably, the lab has also made impactful advances in translational research, including the development of novel prognostic systems for risk stratification in cancer and the creation of targeted therapeutic strategies that inhibit aberrant epigenetic regulators such as FTO, IGF2BP2, YTHDF2, METTL16, and TET1. Several small-molecule inhibitors developed by the Chen Laboratory have demonstrated strong therapeutic potential in preclinical models. The overarching goal of the lab is to translate fundamental discoveries into effective, clinically applicable therapies.

Publications

  • Qin X, Zhou K, Dong L, Yang L, Li W, Chen Z, Shen C, Han L, Li Y, Chan AKN, Pokharel SP, Qing Y, Chen M, Wang K, Leung K, Sau L, Chen CW, Deng X, Su R*, Chen J*. CRISPR screening reveals ZNF217 as a vulnerability in high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Theranostics. 2025 Feb 18;15(8):3234-3256. PMCID: PMC11905140.
  • Hong J, Sui P, Li Y, Xu KY, Lee JH, Wang J, Chen S, Zhang P, Wingate N, Noor A, Yuan Y, Hromas R, Zhou H, Hamamoto K, Su R, Yin CC, Ye F, Quesada AE, Chen J, Huang S, Zhou D, You MJ, Yang FC, Wang J, Xu M. PSPC1 exerts an oncogenic role in AML by regulating a leukemic transcription program in cooperation with PU.1. Cell Stem Cell. 2025 Feb 12:S1934-5909(25)00010-4.
  • Chen Z*, Zeng C, Yang L, Che Y, Chen M, Sau L, Wang B, Zhou K, Chen Y, Qing Y, Shen C, Zhang T, Wunderlich M, Wu D, Li W, Wang K, Leung K, Sun M, Tang T, He X, Zhang L, Swaminathan S, Mulloy JC, Müschen M, Huang H, Weng H, Xiao G, Xiao G, Deng X*, Chen J*. YTHDF2 promotes ATP synthesis and immune evasion in B cell malignancies.  Cell. 2025 Jan 23;188(2):331-351.e30. PMCID: Pending.
  • Zhang S, Huang F, Wang Y, Long Y, Li Y, Kang Y, Gao W, Zhang X, Wen Y, Wang Y, Pan L, Xia Y, Yang Z, Yang Y, Mo H, Li B, Hu J, Song Y, Zhang S, Dong S, Du X, Li Y, Liu Y, Liao W, Gao Y, Zhang Y, Chen H, Liang Y, Chen J, Weng H, Huang H. NAT10-mediated mRNA N4-acetylcytidine reprograms serine metabolism to drive leukaemogenesis and stemness in acute myeloid leukaemia. Nature Cell Biology. 2024 Dec;26(12):2168-2182.PMCID: PMC11628400.
  • Zhang H, Luo X, Yang W, Wu Z, Zhao Z, Pei X, Zhang X, Chen C, Lei JH, Shi Q, Zhao Q, Chen Y, Wu W, Zeng Z, Ju HQ, Qiu M, Liu J, Shen B, Chen M, Chen J, Deng CX, Xu RH, Hou J. YTHDF2 upregulation and subcellular localization dictate CD8 T cell polyfunctionality in anti-tumor immunity. Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 5;15(1):9559. PMCID: PMC11538425.
  • Chen M, Shen C, Chen Y, Chen Z, Zhou K, Chen Y, Li W, Zeng C, Qing Y, Wu D, Xu C, Tang T, Che Y, Qin X, Xu Z, Wang K, Leung K, Sau L, Deng X*, Hu J*, Wu Y*, Chen J*. Metformin synergizes with Gilteritinib in treating FLT3-mutated leukemia via targeting PLK1 signaling. Cell Reports Medicine. 2024 Jul 16;5(7):101645. PMID: 39019012 PMCID: PMC11293342.
  • Chen M, Chen Y Wang K, Deng X*, Chen J*. Non‐m6A RNA modifications in haematological malignancies. Clin Transl Med. 2024 Jun;14(6):e1666. PMCID: PMC11180698.
  • Dong H, He X, Zhang L, Chen W, Lin YC, Liu SB, Wang H, Nguyen LXT, Li M, Zhu Y, Zhao D, Ghoda L, Serody J, Vincent B, Luznik L, Gojo I, Zeidner J, Su R, Chen J, Sharma R, Pirrotte P, Wu X, Hu W, Han W, Shen B, Kuo YH, Jin J, Salhotra A, Wang J, Marcucci G, Luo YL, Li L. Targeting PRMT9-mediated arginine methylation suppresses cancer stem cell maintenance and elicits cGAS-mediated anticancer immunity. Nature Cancer. 2024 Apr;5(4):601-624. PMCID: PMC11056319.
  • Mattson NM, Chan AKN, Miyashita K, Mukhaleva E, Chang WH, Yang L, Ma N, Wang Y, Pokharel SP, Li M, Liu Q, Xu X, Chen R, Singh P, Zhang L, Elsayed Z, Chen B, Keen D, Pirrotte P, Rosen ST, Chen J, LaBarge MA, Shively JE, Vaidehi N, Rockne RC, Feng M, Chen CW. A novel class of inhibitors that disrupts the stability of integrin heterodimers identified by CRISPR-tiling-instructed genetic screens. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2024 Mar;31(3):465-475. PMCID: PMC10948361.
  • Chan AKN, Han L, Delaney CD, Wang X, Mukhaleva E, Li M, Yang L, Pokharel SP, Mattson N, Garcia M, Wang B, Xu X, Zhang L, Singh P, Elsayed Z, Chen R, Kuang B, Wang J, Yuan YC, Chen B, Chan LN, Rosen ST, Horne D, Müschen M, Chen J, Vaidehi N, Armstrong SA, Su R, Chen CW. Therapeutic targeting Tudor domains in leukemia via CRISPR-Scan Assisted Drug Discovery. Sci Adv. 2024 Feb 23;10(8):eadk3127. PMCID: PMC10889360.
  • Xue M, Dong L, Zhang H, Li Y, Qiu K, Zhao Z, Gao M, Han L, Chan AKN, Li W, Leung K, Wang K, Pokharel SP, Qing Y, Liu W, Wang X, Ren L, Bi H, Yang L, Shen C, Chen Z, Melstrom L, Li H, Timchenko N, Deng X, Huang W, Rosen ST, Tian J, Xu L, Diao J, Chen CW, Chen J, Shen B, Chen H, Su R. METTL16 promotes liver cancer stem cell self-renewal via controlling ribosome biogenesis and mRNA translation. J Hematol Oncol. 2024 Feb 1;17(1):7. PMCID: PMC10835888
  • Li B, Liu S, Zheng W, Liu A, Yu P, Wu D, Zhou J, Zhang P, Liu C, Lin Q, Ye J, He S, Huang Q, Zhou H, Chen J, Qu L*, Yang J*. RIP-PEN-seq identifies a class of kink-turn RNAs as splicing regulators. Nature Biotechnology. 2024 Jan;42(1):119-131. PMCID: pending.
  • Dou X, Xiao Y, Shen C, Wang K, Liu C, Yu X, Liu J, Dai Q, Ge R, Gao B, Chen M*, Chen J*, He C*. RBFOX2 recognizes N6-methyladenosine to suppress transcription and block myeloid differentiation. Nature Cell Biology. 2023 Sep;25(9):1359-1368. PMCID: PMC10495261.
  • Zhao Z, Qing Y, Deng X, Su R*, Chen J*. The roles and therapeutic implications of messenger RNA internal N7-methylguanosine and N6 -methyladenosine modifications in chemoresistance. Clinical Translational Medicine. 2023 Sep;13(9):e1400. PMCID: PMC10477465.
  • Deng X*, Qing Y, David Horne, Huang H*, Chen J*. The roles and implications of m6A RNA methylation in cancer. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. 2023 Aug;20(8):507-526. PMCID: Pending.
  • Li Y, Xue M, Deng X, Dong L, Nguyen LXT, Ren L, Han L, Li C, Xue J, Zhao Z, Li W, Qing Y, Shen C, Tan B, Chen Z, Leung K, Wang K, Swaminathan S, Li L, Chen Y, Wunderlich M, Mulloy JC, Li X, Chen H, Zhang B, Horne D, Rosen ST, Marcucci G, Xu M, Li Z, Wei M, Tian J*, Shen B*, Su R*, Chen J*. TET2-mediated mRNA demethylation regulates leukemia stem cell homing and self-renewal. Cell Stem Cell. 2023 Aug 3;30(8):1072-1090.e10. PMCID: PMC11166201.
  • Zhao Z, Qing Y, Dong L, Han L, Wu D, Li Y, Li W, Xue J, Zhou K, Sun M, Tan B, Chen Z, Shen C, Gao L, Small A, Wang K, Leung K, Zhang Z, Qin X, Deng X, Xia Q*, Su R*, Chen J*. QKI shuttles internal m7G-modified transcripts into stress granules and modulates messenger RNA metabolism. Cell. 2023 Jul 20;186(15):3208-3226.e27. PMCID: PMC10527483.
    • ** Featured by Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2023 Aug;24(8):522. doi: 10.1038/s41580-023-00635-6.).
  • Deng X, Qing Y, Chen J*. Targeting YTHDF2/MDSCs to improve radiotherapy. Cell Chemical Biology. 2023 Jul 20;30(7):703-705. PMCID: Pending.
  • Li M, Yang L, Chan AKN, Pokharel SP, Liu Q, Mattson N, Xu X, Chang WH, Miyashita K, Singh P, Zhang L, Li M, Wu J, Wang J, Chen B, Chan LN, Lee J, Zhang XH, Rosen ST, Müschen M, Qi J, Chen J, Hiom K, Bishop AJR, Chen CW. Epigenetic Control of Translation Checkpoint and Tumor Progression via RUVBL1-EEF1A1 Axis. Advanced Science. 2023 Jun;10(17):e2206584. PMCID: PMC10265057.

To view more of Jianjun Chen's publications, please visit PubMed here