Chen Lab
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth H Chen
Institution: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, TX)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Cell-cell fusion is critical to the conception, development, and physiology of multicellular organisms, and is involved in a variety of biological processes, such as fertilization, placenta development, bone remodeling, immune response, and skeletal muscle development and regeneration. Failure in cell fusion leads to defects such as infertility, osteopetrosis, immune deficiency, pre-eclampsia, and congenital myopathy and muscular dystrophy. Compared with our understanding of intracellular vesicle fusion and virus-cell fusion, much less is known about the underlying mechanisms of cell fusion. A mechanistic understanding of cell fusion is not only important for fundamental biology but may also provide basis for its manipulation in therapeutic settings. My laboratory uses a multifaceted approach including genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, live imaging, super-resolution microscopy and electron microscopy to study the mechanisms underlying cell-cell fusion. Using Drosophila myoblast fusion as a model initially, we discovered the asymmetric fusogenic synapse, where one cell invades its fusion partner using F-actin-propelled invasive membrane…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R35GM136316-07: Decoding the mechanisms of cell-cell fusion - Renewal - 1 (2026)
- 5R01AR085116-02: Molecular Mechanisms of Myoblast Fusion (2026)
- 1R01HD122357-01: Molecular Control of ER Remodeling During Spermiogenesis (2026)
- 2R35GM136316-06: Decoding the mechanisms of cell-cell fusion - Renewal - 1 (2025)
- 1R01AR085116-01: Molecular Mechanisms of Myoblast Fusion (2025)
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