Dr. Zhifen Chen

Corona-Stiftung

Decoding Risk and Resilience Mechanisms for Coronary Artery Disease in OBesity (CarBesity)
Clinic for Heart and Vascular Diseases (DHM)

Academic Career and Research Areas

Dr. Zhifen Chen completed her master's degree in life science at Tsinghua University in China. In 2012, she began her doctorate in ‘Cardiac Disease Modeling using HiPSCs’ at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar and received her doctorate (summa) from TUM. In 2016, she became a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and Harvard Medical School, USA, and affiliated with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, USA, where she gained skills for population genomics and functional genomic research in cardiometabolic diseases. She has led her research group at the Department of Experimental Cardiology, German Heart Center Munich since 2020. 

The research area of Dr. Zhifen Chen is to discover and investigate the risk genes contributing to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) via obesity combining biological and bioinformatic approaches, based on which to prioritize diagnostic markers or therapeutic targets for CVD.  The group also engineers customized layers of artery models using hiPSC-derived cell types to validate discoveries from population genomics studies and test the therapeutic value of drug candidates.

    Awards

    • 2025-2029: Corona Stiftung Junior Group Leader
    • 2024: DZHK sequencing project
    • 2023-2027: DFG grant, Collaborative Research 
      Centers/Transregios; (SFB/TRR267_B05)
    • 2023-2026: DFG research grant
    • 2022: DZHK postdoc start-up grant

    Li L*, Chen Z*, Scheidt VM, Li S, Steiner A, Güldener U, Koplev S, Ma A, Hao K, Pan C, Lusis A, Pang S, Kessler T, Ermel R, Sukhavasi K, Ruusalepp A, Gagneur J, Erdmann J, Kovacic J, Björkegren JLM, Schunkert H.: "Transcriptome wide association study of coronary artery disease identifies novel susceptibility genes". Basic Research in Cardiology. 2022; 117(1):6.

    Abstract

    Chen Z and Schunkert H.: "Genetics of coronary artery disease in the post-GWAS era. Journal of Internal Medicine". 2021; 290(5):980-992.

    Abstract

    Chen Z, Yu H, Shi X, Warren C, Lotta AA, Friesen M, Meissner T, Langenberg C, Wabitsch M, Wareham N, Benson MD, Gerszten R, Cowan CA.: "Functional screening of candidate causal genes for insulin resistance in human preadipocytes and adipocytes". Circulation Research. 2020; 126(3):330-346.

    Abstract

    Chen Z*, Xian WY*, Bellin M, Dorn T, Tian QH, Goedel A, Schneider CM, Oostwaard DW, Judy King Man Ng, Hinkel R, Pane LS, Mummery CL, Lipp P, Laugwitz KL, Moretti A, Sinnecker D.: "Subtype-specific promoter-driven action potential imaging for precise disease modelling and drug testing in hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes". European Heart Journal. 2017; 38(4): 292–301.

    Abstract

    Chen Z, Zhang L, Yi J, Yang Z, Zhang Z, Li Z.: "Promotion of adiponectin multimerization by emodin: a novel AMPK activator with PPARγ-agonist activity. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry". 2012; 113(11): 3547-58.

    Abstract

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