Dr. Zhifen Chen

Corona-Stiftung

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

School

TUM School of Medicine and Health

Contact Details

Business card at TUMonline

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

Key Publications (all publications)

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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