Chen’s Biography

Xian Chen

Xian Chen is a Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UNC-CH, Faculty Director for UNC-Duke Michael Hooker Proteomics Center, and a member of Lineberger NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center. He completed his B.S. undergraduate degree in Chemistry for Peking (Beijing) University, China. He then came to US to obtain his Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the Penn State University. Followed by a two-year postdoctoral training in the field of molecular biology and enzymology at University of Florida Health Science Center, he joined Life Science Division, Los Alamos National Lab, first as a postdoctoral fellow studying in multi-dimensional structures of DNA and proteins primarily using NMR, later he became a staff member and then was promoted to the Leader of a bioanalytical team. He joined the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty in late 2006.  Because of his multi-disciplinary training background, Dr. Chen has broad research interests cross biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, and biology, with an emphasis on studies of systems dysregulation of cellular signaling and functional pathways in diseases. His research group in conjunction with the technology development mission at the Proteomics Center also focus on developing novel techniques capable of performing systems investigation to address ‘real-world’ biological concerns in more sensitive, precise, and high throughput way.

Honors and Awards:

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (1999, named by President Bill Clinton)
Department of Energy Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (1999)
The 2001 Patent & Licensing Awards, Los Alamos National Lab (2002)
ChangJiang Scholar – Lecture Professor, China (2004)