Toledo Cancer Research Symposium

Zhijian 'James' Chen, Ph.D.

Zhijian ‘James’ Chen is an Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and

Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas

Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He is also Director of Inflammation Research

Center and George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science at UT

Southwestern.

 

Keynote Address

DNA Immunity - Igniting Inflammation with cGAS

 

Research Interest:

• cGAS-STING pathway
• Innate Immunity
• MAVS: mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein
• NF-kappaB Signaling
• RIG-I Signaling
• Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway

Zhijian ‘James’ Chen is an Investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and

Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Texas

Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He is also Director of Inflammation Research

Center and George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science at UT

Southwestern. Prior to moving to Dallas, Chen was a senior scientist at ProScript Inc.

where he helped discover the proteasome inhibitor VELCADE, a medicine used for the

treatment of multiple myeloma. After joining UT Southwestern in 1997, Chen discovered

the regulatory role of ubiquitination in protein kinase activation in the NF-kB and MAP

kinase pathways. In addition, he discovered the Mitochondrial Antiviral Signaling

(MAVS) protein that reveals a new role of mitochondria in immunity. In 2012, Chen

discovered cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) as a cytosolic DNA sensor and a new

cyclic di-nucleotide signaling pathway that mediate innate immune responses in animal

cells. For his work, Chen has received numerous honors including the National Academy

of Science Award in Molecular Biology (2012), American Society of Biochemistry and

Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Merck Award (2015), Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences

from the Foundation of NIH (2018), Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2019), Switzer

Prize (2019), William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor

Immunology (2020), Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2023), Albert Lasker Award for Basic

Medical Research (2024), Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (2025) and Elaine

Redding Brinster Prize (2026). Chen is a member of both the National Academy of

Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and a Fellow of Royal Society.

 

View Profile