Zhiguo Chen, DOB 1977, Professor, Director, Cell Therapy Center, Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University

Dr. Chen obtained his B.Sc. degree from Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Nankai University, China, in 1999; and got the doctoral degree of Neuroscience from Karolinska Institute, Sweden in 2004. From 2004 to 2012, he was employed as postdoctoral researcher and then a Visiting Assistant Professor at Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford University, USA. Since 2010, he participated in a joint project between Stanford University and Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, and started his own lab in Xuanwu in 2012.

Member of International Society for Stem Cell Research, International Society for Developmental Neuroscience, the New York Academy of Sciences. Committee member of International Association of Neurorestoratology, and Chinese Neuroscience Society – Neural stem cell and tissue engineering. Invited reviewer for 11 international journals such as stem cells.

Major research lines include the following:
1) Test the safety and efficacy of neural cells of different origins on small and large Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injury animal models; 2) Study the mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases using patient-specific reprogrammed cells; 3) Cellular reprogramming and its clinical translation. Dr. Chen has published 40 research articles in SCI journals. As an independent PI in Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, he has led more than 6 national and international projects, and made progress in the fields of cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease, neural stem cells by reprogramming, disease modeling using reprogrammed cells, etc.

Publications:
1. Chen Z* and Palmer TD*. Differential roles of TNFR1 and TNFR2 signaling in adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Brain Behav Immun. 2013 May;30:45-53.
2. Ren Z, Wang J, Wang S, Zou C, Li X, Guan Y, Chen Z*, Zhang YA*. Autologous transplantation of GDNF-expressing mesenchymal stem cells protects against MPTP-induced damage in cynomolgus monkeys. Sci Rep. 2013 Sep 27;3:2786. doi: 10.1038/srep02786.
3. Sheng C, Zheng Q, Wu J, Xu Z, Wang L, Li W, Zhang H, Zhao XY, Liu L, Wang Z, Guo C, Wu HJ, Liu Z, Wang L, He S, Wang XJ, Chen Z* and Zhou Q*. Direct Reprogramming of Sertoli Cells into Multipotent Neural Stem Cells by Defined Factors. Cell Research. 2012 Jan;22(1):208-18.  
4. Ren Z, Zhang YA*, Chen Z*. Spontaneous transformation of cynomolgus mesenchymal stem cells in vitro: further confirmation by short tandem repeat analysis. Exp Cell Res. 2012 March 10; 318(5):435-440.
5. Sheng C, Zheng Q, Wu J, Xu Z, Sang L, Wang L, Guo C, Zhu W, Tong M, Liu L, Zhao XY, Wang L, Chen Z* and Zhou Q*. Generation of dopaminergic neurons directly from mouse fibroblasts and fibroblast-derived neural progenitors. Cell Research. 2012 Feb 28. 2012 Apr;22(4):769-72.