Our People
Biography
Dr. Zhefan Stephen Chen is currently an Assistant Professor at School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He received his B.Med.Sci. degree from Southern Medical University, and completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at CUHK under the supervision of Professor Ho Yin Edwin Chan. Dr. Chen was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship under a Clinical Neurosciences program between CUHK and University of Oxford, where he was mentored by Prof. Kevin Talbot, Head of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. During his doctoral study and postdoctoral training, Dr. Chen investigated the pathogenic mechanisms of repeat expansion neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and polyglutamine diseases. The research program of Dr. Chen’s laboratory focuses on studying the neurobiology of primary cilium, a solitary hair-like cellular organelle. His group employs human stem cell-derived neuronal models, integrating molecular biology, cell biology, neurophysiology, and bioinformatics approaches to investigate the role of primary cilium in human neurodevelopment and neurological disorders.
Stephen CHEN
Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences
Research Interests
- Neurobiology of primary cilium
- Pathogenic mechanisms of human neurological diseases
- Human stem cells and their neuronal derivatives
Awards
- Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neurosciences, CUHK and University of Oxford
Selected publications
- Chen, Z.S.*, Peng, S.I.*, Leong, L.I., Gall-Duncan, T., Wong, N.S.J., Li, T.H., Lin, X., Wei, Y., Koon, A.C., Huang, J., Sun, J.K.L., Turner, C., Tippett, L., Curtis, M.A., Faull, R.L.M., Kwan, K.M., Chow, H.M., Ko, H., Chan, T.F., Talbot, K., Pearson, C.E. and Chan, H.Y.E. Mutant huntingtin induces neuronal apoptosis via derepressing the non-canonical poly(A) polymerase PAPD5. (Preprint: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2983878/v1)
- Chen, Z.S., Ou, M., Taylor, S., Dafinca, R., Peng, S.I., Talbot, K. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2023) Mutant GGGGCC RNA prevents YY1 from binding to Fuzzypromoter which stimulates Wnt/β-catenin pathway in C9ALS/FTD. Nat. Commun. 14(1), 8420.
- Chen, Z.S., Yan, M., Pei, W., Yan, B., Huang, C. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2022) Lignin-carbohydrate complexes suppress SCA3 neurodegeneration via upregulating proteasomal activities. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 218, 690-705.
- Chen, Z.S., Huang, X., Talbot, K. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2021) A fine balance between Prpf19 and Exoc7 in achieving degradation of aggregated protein and suppression of cell death in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. Cell Death Dis. 12(2), 136.
- Chen, Z.S., Li, L., Peng, S., Chen, F.M., Zhang, Q., An, Y., Lin, X., Li, W., Koon, A.C., Chan, T.F., Lau, K.F., Ngo, J.C.K., Wong, W.T., Kwan, K.M. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2018) Planar cell polarity gene Fuztriggers apoptosis in neurodegenerative disease models. EMBO Rep. 19(9), e45409.
