Biography:

Professor Chen obtained her BSc degree from the School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University (ECNU) in 2006. She continued her study at ECNU, focusing on miRNAs and cancer, and obtained her MSc degree in 2009. She switched to lncRNAs and skeletal muscle related research and obtained her PhD degree in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2014. She pursued her postdoctoral training in the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of CUHK (2015-2019) and in the Division of Life Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2019-2022).

Specialised Research Area(s):

• Gene Regulation in Skeletal Muscle Stem Cells, Muscle Regeneration and Aging
• Biological Regulatory Functions of DNA/RNA G-quadruplexes
• Gene Regulatory Functions of lncRNAs and RNA Binding Proteins

1. Chen X*, Xue G*, Zhao J, Zhang Y, Zhang S, Wang W, Li Y, Yuan J, He L, Chan CY, Liu Y, Chen W, Zhao Y, Hu P, Sun H, Kwok CK, Wang H. Lockd promotes myoblast proliferation and muscle regeneration via binding with DHX36 to facilitate 5' UTR rG4 unwinding and Anp32e translation. Cell Reports. 2022 Jun 7;39(10):110927. (* Co-first authors)

2. Chen X*, Yuan J*, Xue G, Campanario S, Wang D, Wang W, Mou X, Liew SW, Umar M, Isern J, Zhao Y, He L, Li Y, Mann C, Yu X, Wang L, Perdiguero E, Chen W, Xue Y, Nagamine Y, Kwok CK, Sun H, Muñoz-Cánoves P, Wang H. Translational control by DHX36 binding to 5’UTR G-quadruplex is essential for muscle stem-cell regenerative functions. Nature Communications. 2021 Aug 19;12(1):5043. (* Co-first authors)

3. Chen X, He L, Zhao Y, Li Y, Zhang S, Sun K, So K, Chen F, Zhou L, Lu L, Wang L, Zhu X, Bao X, Esteban MA, Nakagawa S, Prasanth KV, Wu Z, Sun H, Wang H. Malat1 regulates myogenic differentiation and muscle regeneration through modulating MyoD transcriptional activity. Cell Discovery. 2017 Mar 14;3:17002.

4. Qiao Y, Sun Q, Chen X, He L, Wang D, Su R, Xue Y, Sun H, Wang H. Nuclear m6A reader YTHDC1 promotes muscle stem cell activation/proliferation by regulating mRNA splicing and nuclear export. Elife. 2023 Mar 9: 12:e82703.

5. Zhao Y, Ding Y, He L, Zhou Q, Chen X, Li Y, Alfonsi MV, Wu Z, Sun H and Wang H. Multiscale 3D Genome Reorganization during Skeletal Muscle Stem Cell Lineage Progression and Aging. Science Advances. 2023 Feb. 17.

6. He L, Ding Y, Zhao Y, So KK, Peng XL, Li Y, Yuan J, He Z, Chen X, Sun H, Wang H. CRISPR/Cas9/AAV9-mediated in vivo editing identifies MYC regulation of 3D genome in skeletal muscle stem cell. Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Oct 12;16(10):2442-2458.

7. Li Y, Yuan J, Chen F, Zhang S, Zhao Y, Chen X, Lu L, Zhou L, Chu CY, Sun H, Wang H. Long noncoding RNA SAM promotes myoblast proliferation through stabilizing Sugt1 and facilitating kinetochore assembly. Nature Communications. 2020 Jun 1;11(1):2725. 

8. Zhao Y, Zhou J, He L, Sun K, Chen X, Li Y, Bao X, Esteban MA, Sun H and Wang H. MyoD induced enhancer RNA interacts with hnRNPL protein via CAAA motif to activate target gene transcription during myogenic differentiation. Nature Communications. 2019 Dec 19;10(1):5787. 

9. Zhou L, Sun K, Zhao Y, Zhang S, Wang X, Li Y, Lu L, Chen X, Chen F, Bao X, Zhu X, Wang L, Tang LY, Esteban MA, Wang CC, Jauch R, Sun H, Wang H. Linc-YY1 promotes myogenic differentiation and muscle regeneration through an interaction with the transcription factor YY1. Nat Communications. 2015 Dec 11;6:10026. 

10. Wang L, Zhao Y, Bao X, Zhu X, Kwok YK, Sun K, Chen X, Huang Y, Jauch R, Esteban MA, Sun H, Wang H. LncRNA Dum interacts with Dnmts to regulate Dppa2 expression during myogenic differentiation and muscle regeneration. Cell Res. 2015 Mar;25(3):335-50.

11. Lu L, Sun K, Chen X, Zhao Y, Wang L, Zhou L, Sun H, Wang H. Genome-wide survey by ChIP-seq reveals YY1 regulation of lincRNAs in skeletal myogenesis. EMBO J. 2013 Oct 2;32(19):2575-88. 

12. Wang L, Zhou L, Jiang P, Lu L, Chen X, Lan H, Guttridge DC, Sun H, Wang H. Loss of miR-29 in myoblasts contributes to dystrophic muscle pathogenesis. Mol Ther. 2012 Jun;20(6):1222-33.