When
Monday, September 30th, 2024 - 12:00 p.m.
Kellen Chen
Assistant Research Professor
Surgery and Biomedical Engineering
University of Arizona
"Investigating Mechanoresponsive Immune Signaling to Reduce Fibrosis and Promote Regeneration"
Drachman A118
Zoom link | Password: BearDown
Host: Alex McGhee
(Instructor permission required for enrolled students to attend via Zoom)
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting the Disability Resource Center at 621-3268 (V/TTY).
Abstract: Cells and tissue within injured organs undergo a complicated healing processthat still remains poorly understood. Humans and other large organisms respond to injury by forming dysfunctional, fibrotic scar tissue, and understanding how to instead promote tissue regeneration and restoration of function remains a "holy grail" of biomedical research. Mechanotransduction pathways and mechanical signaling have been increasingly linked to healing processes throughout the body, and our recent work has identified mechano responsive immune cells as playing a key role in driving fibrosis across organ systems. A better understanding of how to target both the mechanical and inflammatory environments remains an interesting pathway to promote improved healing.
Bio: Kellen Chen, is an assistant research professor in the Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine – Tucson. Dr. Chen completed his postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University, PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia, and B. in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Chen co-directs the lab of Department of Surgery Chair Geoffrey Gurtner, MD, FACS. Together, they are currently studying therapies to improve outcomes after injury, skin grafting, chronic wound development, biomedical device implantation and more. Among these many research avenues, Dr. Chen is particularly interested in the molecularand cellular drivers of fibrosis and regeneration across all organ systems, and he has a history of studying fibrosis in the context of skin, heart, tendon, and the foreign body response. He is also currently working on obtaining FDA approval for a clinical trial to study pharmacological inhibition of mechanical signaling to accelerate healing of deep dermal injury.
Dr. Chen has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and five book chapters, including first author publications in journals such as Science Translational Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, and PNAS. He has received a variety of awards, including the First Place Young Investigator’s Award from the Wound Healing Society and the Bernard G. Sarnat, MD, Excellence in Grant Writing Award from the Plastic Surgery Foundation.