Huanhuan Joyce Chen

University of Chicago

United States

I have a decade of experience in cancer biology, and more than six years of experience in stem cell biology and technology. My postdoctoral training was focused on generation of lung lineage cells and organoid models through directed differentiation from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) or induced pluripotent cells (iPSC). I also developed the first method to specifically differentiate hESC’s to pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs), as a putative cells of origin of small cell lung cancer, and used this novel model system for studying carcinogenesis of lung cells. I have also exploited these new research platforms to investigate the roles of cancer genes and target cells at differentiation status in determining the phenotypic properties of lung cancers. Since I started my faculty position at the University of Chicago in 2020, I have assembled a talented and productive research team. I have extended the human pluripotent stem cell technology to a new direction of making hematopoietic lineage cells and macrophages, on which we have a manuscript in press in Nature Communications, and I am the corresponding author. I have also led collaborative projects to apply these hPSC-derived cells for modeling and studying infectious diseases, with two papers published in Nature, and Theranostics, in which I am one of the corresponding authors. Further, I have already set up and will strengthen the collaborations with cancer biologists, stem cell biologists, cellular engineers, pathologists, and geneticists at UChicago and across the country; and constantly seek advice and helps from experts in interdisciplinary fields to guide the proposed research.

Ccancer biology, Stem cell biology and technology, Generation of lung lineage cells and organoid models, Pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs).