University of Southern California
$500,000 Magnolia Council Senior Investigator Grant
Research Title:
Targeting Mismatch Repair System for Cancer Therapy
Despite decades of extensive studies in cancer research, cancer is still the number 2 leading cause of death in the United States. The major problem is that individual cancers display distinct genetic abnormalities, and none of the known treatments and their combination can effectively deal with these abnormalities. We have recently created a mutant DNA repair protein that irreversibly binds to cancer cell-specific DNA errors during cancer growth, leading to cell death. This application aims to develop this mutant DNA repair protein into an effective drug for cancer therapy.
Dr. Chen currently serves as Professor of Biological Chemistry – USC Keck School of Medicine, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.
His combined expertise in Molecular and Cell Biology, Biochemistry, and Structural Biology (X-ray, EM) enables him to study critical questions in DNA replication/repair, Cancer Biology and Immunology at molecular/cellular levels. He has done landmark work on viral replication and viral oncogenes (such as SV40 large tumor antigen, EBV gp350), as well as crucial DNA modifying enzymes which play key roles in genomic stability, cancer, and immunity.