Ting Chen, Ph.D

Associate Investigator, NIBS, Beijing，China

Phone：86-10-80726688

Fax： 86-10-80726689

E-mail：chenting@nibs.ac.cn

Education
2006 Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Microbiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
2001 B.S., Biology Department, Xiamen University, Xiamen, P. R. China

Professional Experience
2020-??Associate Investigator,National Institute of Biological Sciences,Beijing,China
2012-2020??Assistant Investigator,National Institute of Biological Sciences,Beijing,China
2007-2012??Postdoctoral Fellow,Howard Hughes Medical Institute,Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development,Rockefeller University,New York,USA

Award and Fellowship

2012??American Society of Cell Biology Merton Bernfield Memorial Award
2010??Empire State Stem Cell Scholars: Fellow-to-Faculty Awards in Stem Cell Research, from New York State
2008??NYSCF Druckenmiller Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, from New York Stem Cell Foundation
2008??AACR-Astellas USA Fellowship Award for Basic Cancer Research
2007??Cell and Developmental Biology Outstanding Graduate Student Award, from University of Virginia

Research Description
Skin physically protects our body from the external environment. Our lab utilizes multidisciplinary methods to study the mechanisms governing skin homeostasis, regeneration and diseases. We are interested in two main areas: 1. Niche regulated skin stem cell function: by combining cell-specific genetic lineage tracing and live imaging, we revealed new mechanisms of niche regulated skin stem cell specification, maintenance and loss. 2. Skin disease mechanism and treatment: inherent genetic defects and acquired common skin diseases that affect skin function have detrimental effect to our health or survival. We have developed several genetic and acquired skin disease models including RDEB, PPK, and vitiligo to investigate the mechanisms underlying disease progression; we have also developed novel in vivo gene editing technologies to achieve efficient gene therapy for skin disease treatment.

Publications:

29. Guo S, Liu C, Xu Y, Wang X, Nan F, Huang Y, Li S, Nan S, Li L, Edo Kon, Li C,Wei M, Su R, Wei J, Peng S, Nitay Ad-El, Liu J, Dan Peer, Chen T, Yang L, Chen L*. Therapeutic application of circular RNA aptamers in a mouse model of psoriasis. Nature Biotechnology. 2024. Doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02204-4.

28. Du Y, Qi X, Zhang L,Yang Y, Chen T*. Calcium influx-induced lytic cell death disrupts skin immune homeostasis. Cell Discovery. 2023; 9:124. DOI:10.1038/s41421-023-00623-2.

27. Zhang B*, Chen T*. Local and systemic mechanisms that control the hair follicle stem cell niche. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41580-023-00662-3.

26. Su R, Huang H, Chang Y, Yu Y, Cui J, Chen T*, Li B*, Wang W*. Mosaic somatic HRAS mutation causes unilateral psoriasis. Life Medicine. 2023. DOI: 10.1093/lifemedi/lnad018.

25. Chen D^#, Xu Z^#, Cui J, Chen T*. A mouse model of vitiligo based on endogenous auto-reactive CD8+ T cell targeting skin melanocyte. Cell Regen. 2022;11(1):31. DOI: 10.1186/s13619-022-00132-9.

24. Xie Y, Chen T*. Mouse tail skin wholemount staining and intravital calcium imaging. STAR Protocols. 2022;3(1):101235. DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101235.

23. Xu Z^#, Chen D^#, Hu Y, Jiang K, Huang H, Du Y, Wu W, Wang J, Sui J, Wang W, Zhang L, Li S, Li C, Yong Y, Chang J*, Chen T*. Anatomically distinct fibroblast subsets determine skin autoimmune patterns. Nature. 2022;601(7891):118-124. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04221-8.

? Recommended by Faculty Member Thierry Passeron at Faculty Opinions as Exceptional, Faculty Opinions. 2022; 10.3410/f.741322615.793590880.

22. Xie Y, Chen D, Jiang K, Song L, Qian N, Du Y, Yang Y, Wang F, Chen T*. Hair shaft miniaturization causes stem cell depletion through mechano-sensory signals mediated by a Piezo1-calcium-TNFα axis. Cell Stem Cell. 2022;29(1):70-85.e6. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2021.09.009.

? Research Highlight by Paulina Strzyz. Compression as a driver of hair loss. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2021;22(12):775. DOI: 10.1038/s41580-021-00426-x.

? Preview by Terry Lechler. Hair follicle stem cells feel the pressure. Cell Stem Cell. 2022;29(1):1-2. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2021.12.001.

21. Song Z, Chen X, Zhao Q, Stanic V, Lin Z, Yang S, Chen T, Chen J, Yang Y*. Hair loss caused by gain-of-function mutant TRPV3 is associated with premature differentiation of follicular keratinocytes. J Invest Dermatol. 2021;S0022-202X(21)00158-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2020.11.036.

20. Zou Z, Long X, Zhao Q, Zheng Y, Song M, Ma S, Jing Y, Wang S, He Y, Esteban CR, Yu N, Huang J, Chan P, Chen T, Izpisua Belmonte JC, Zhang W, Qu J, Liu GH*. A Single-Cell Transcriptomic Atlas of Human Skin Aging. Developmental Cell. 2021;56(3):383-397.e8. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.11.002.

19. Lu Z, Xie Y, Huang H, Jiang K, Zhou B, Wang F, Chen T*. Hair follicle stem cells regulate retinoid metabolism to maintain the self-renewal niche for melanocyte stem cells. eLife. 2020;9:e52712. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.52712.

18. Li F, Lu Z, Wu W, Qian N, Wang F, Chen T*. Optogenetic gene editing in regional skin. Cell Research. 2019;29(10):862-865. DOI: 10.1038/s41422-019-0209-9.

17. Wu W, Chen T*. Ribonucleoproteins Mediated Efficient In Vivo Gene Editing in Skin Stem Cells. Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1879:75-86. DOI: 10.1007/7651_2018_115.

16. Yu Z, Jiang K, Xu Z, Huang H, Qian N, Lu Z, Chen D, Di R, Yuan T, Du Z, Xie W, Lu X, Li H, Chai R, Yang Y, Zhu B, Kunieda T, Wang F*, Chen T*. Hoxc-Dependent Mesenchymal Niche Heterogeneity Drives Regional Hair Follicle Regeneration. Cell Stem Cell. 2018;23(4):487-500.e6. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2018.07.016.

? Featured free article with cover

? Preview by SE. Millar. Hox in the Niche Controls Hairy-geneity.Cell Stem Cell. 2018;23(4):457-458. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2018.09.012.

15. Fan SM, Chang YT, Chen CL, Wang WH, Pan MK, Chen WP, Huang WY, Xu Z, Huang HE, Chen T, Plikus MV, Chen SK, Lin SJ*. External light activates hair follicle stem cells through eyes via an ipRGC-SCN-sympathetic neural pathway. PNAS. 2018;115(29):E6880-E6889. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1719548115.

14. Nguyen MB, Cohen I, Kumar V, Xu Z, Bar C, Dauber-Decker KL, Tsai PC, Marangoni P, Klein OD, Hsu YC, Chen T, Mikkola ML, Ezhkova E*. FGF signalling controls the specification of hair placode-derived SOX9 positive progenitors to Merkel cells. Nature Communications. 2018;9(1):2854. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04399-y.

13. Wu W, Lu Z, Li F, Wang W, Qian N, Duan J, Zhang Y, Wang F, Chen T*. Efficient in vivo gene editing using ribonucleoproteins in skin stem cells of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa mouse model. PNAS. 2017;114(7):1660-1665. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1614775114.

? Selected by The Latest Science “ Paper of the Year ”

? News report by Epidermolysis Bullosa News

12. Yu Z, Chen T*. Regional differences: The skin is a complex landscape containing regions in which hair follicles exhibit different types of behavior. eLife. 2017;6: e30249. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.30249.

11. He L, Li Y, Li Y, Pu W, Huang X, Tian X, Wang Y, Zhang H, Liu Q, Zhang L, Zhao H, Tang J, Ji H, Cai D, Han Z, Han Z, Nie Y, Hu S, Wang QD, Sun R, Fei J, Wang F, Chen T, Yan Y, Huang H, Pu WT, Zhou B*. Enhancing the precision of genetic lineage tracing using dual recombinases. Nature Medicine. 2017;23(12):1488-1498. DOI: 10.1038/nm.4437.

10. Zhang H, Huang X, Liu K, Tang J, He L, Pu W, Liu Q, Li Y, Tian X, Wang Y, Zhang L, Yu Y, Wang H, Hu R, Wang F, Chen T, Wang QD, Qiao Z, Zhang L, Lui KO, Zhou B*. Fibroblasts in an endocardial fibroelastosis disease model mainly originate from mesenchymal derivatives of epicardium. Cell Research. 2017;27(9):1157-1177. DOI: 10.1038/cr.2017.103.

9. He L, Huang X, Kanisicak O, Li Y, Wang Y, Li Y, Pu W, Liu Q, Zhang H, Tian X, Zhao H, Liu X, Zhang S, Nie Y, Hu S, Miao X, Wang QD, Wang F, Chen T, Xu Q, Lui KO, Molkentin JD, Zhou B*. Preexisting endothelial cells mediate cardiac neovascularization after injury. J Clin Invest. 2017;127(8):2968-2981. DOI: 10.1172/JCI93868.

8. Lin Z, Li S, Feng C, Yang S, Wang H, Ma D, Zhang J, Gou M, Bu D, Zhang T, Kong X, Wang X, Sarig O, Ren Y, Dai L, Liu H, Zhang J, Li F, Hu Y, Padalon-Brauch G, Vodo D, Zhou F, Chen T, Deng H, Sprecher E, Yang Y*, Tan X*. Stabilizing mutations of KLHL24 ubiquitin ligase cause loss of keratin 14 and human skin fragility. Nature Genetics. 2016;48(12):1508-1516. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3701.

7. Xu Z, Wang W, Jiang K, Yu Z, Huang H, Wang F, Zhou B, Chen T*. Embryonic attenuated Wnt/β-catenin signaling defines niche location and long-term stem cell fate in hair follicle. eLife. 2015;4:e10567. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.10567.

6. Deng Z, Lei X, Zhang X, Zhang H, Liu S, Chen Q, Hu H, Wang X, Ning L, Cao Y, Zhao T, Zhou J, Chen T, Duan E*. mTOR signaling promotes stem cell activation via counterbalancing BMP-mediated suppression during hair regeneration. J MOL CELL BIOL. 2015;7(1):62-72. DOI: 10.1093/jmcb/mjv005.

5. Fuchs E*, Chen T. A matter of life and death: self-renewal in stem cells. EMBO Rep. 2013;14(1):39-48. DOI: 10.1038/embor.2012.197.

4. Chen T, Heller E, Beronja S, Oshimori N, Stokes N, Fuchs E*. An RNA interference screen uncovers a new molecule in stem cell self-renewal and long-term regeneration. Nature. 2012;485(7396):104-8. DOI: 10.1038/nature10940.

? Selected by Faculty of 1000 Biology

3. Greco V^#, Chen T^#, Rendl M, Schober M, Pasolli HA, Stokes N, Dela Cruz-Racelis J, Fuchs E*. A two-step mechanism for stem cell activation during hair regeneration. Cell Stem Cell. 2009;6;4(2):155-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2008.12.009.

? Authors contributed equally

? Highlight Review in Cell Stem Cell

? Selected by Faculty of 1000 Biology

2. Chen T, Muratore TL, Schaner-Tooley CE, Shabanowitz J, Hunt DF, Macara IG*. N-terminal α-methylation of RCC1 is necessary for stable chromatin association and normal mitosis. Nat Cell Biol. 2007;9(5):596-603. DOI: 10.1038/ncb1572.

? Highlight Review in Nature Cell Biology

? Selected by Faculty of 1000 Biology

1. Chen T, Brownawell AM, Macara IG*. Nucleocytoplasmic Shuttling of JAZ, a New Cargo Protein for Exportin-5. Mol Cell Biol. 2004;24(15):6608-19. DOI: 10.1038/ncb1572.