Jianzhu Chen

Jianzhu Chen

Professor of Biology; Intramural Faculty, Koch Institute

Jianzhu Chen studies the immune system, harnessing the body’s defense force to explore treatment and prevention for cancer, as well as metabolic and infectious diseases.

617-258-6173

Phone

76-261

Office

jchen@mit.edu

Email

Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research

Location

Lab Website
Ryan Hayman

Assistant

617-253-0796

Assistant Phone

Education

  • PhD, 1990, Stanford University
  • BS, 1982, Biology, Wuhan University

Research Summary 

We seek to understand the immune system and its application in cancer immunotherapy and vaccine development. We study the molecular and cellular mechanisms behind immunological and disease processes, leveraging the vast array of genomic data, humanized mice and clinical samples.

Awards

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 2012

Key Publications

  1. High-throughput phenotypic screen and transcriptional analysis identify new compounds and targets for macrophage reprogramming. Hu, G, Su, Y, Kang, BH, Fan, Z, Dong, T, Brown, DR, Cheah, J, Wittrup, KD, Chen, J. 2021. Nat Commun 12, 773.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21066-xPMID:33536439
  2. CAR-T cells targeting a nucleophosmin neoepitope exhibit potent specific activity in mouse models of acute myeloid leukaemia. Xie, G, Ivica, NA, Jia, B, Li, Y, Dong, H, Liang, Y, Brown, D, Romee, R, Chen, J. 2021. Nat Biomed Eng 5, 399-413.
    doi: 10.1038/s41551-020-00625-5PMID:33046866
  3. MFSD7C switches mitochondrial ATP synthesis to thermogenesis in response to heme. Li, Y, Ivica, NA, Dong, T, Papageorgiou, DP, He, Y, Brown, DR, Kleyman, M, Hu, G, Chen, WW, Sullivan, LB et al.. 2020. Nat Commun 11, 4837.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18607-1PMID:32973183
  4. Vitamin D3-vitamin D receptor axis suppresses pulmonary emphysema by maintaining alveolar macrophage homeostasis and function. Hu, G, Dong, T, Wang, S, Jing, H, Chen, J. 2019. EBioMedicine 45, 563-577.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.06.039PMID:31278070
  5. Sensitizing protective tumor microenvironments to antibody-mediated therapy. Pallasch, CP, Leskov, I, Braun, CJ, Vorholt, D, Drake, A, Soto-Feliciano, YM, Bent, EH, Schwamb, J, Iliopoulou, B, Kutsch, N et al.. 2014. Cell 156, 590-602.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.12.041PMID:24485462

Recent Publications

  1. Selective HLA knockdown and PD-L1 expression prevent allogeneic CAR-NK cell rejection and enhance safety and anti-tumor responses in xenograft mice. Liu, F, Tarannum, M, Zhao, Y, Zhang, YJ, Ham, JD, Lei, K, Qiang, Y, Deng, X, Nguyen, M, Dinh, K et al.. 2025. Nat Commun 16, 8809.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63863-8PMID:41062480
  2. Lipid Nanoparticles Formulated with a Novel Cholesterol-Tailed Ionizable Lipid Markedly Increase mRNA Delivery Both in vitro and in vivo. Jeon, JH, Zhu, H, Qin, J, Wang, L, Mou, S, Langston, LK, Marasini, R, Chen, J, Xu, R, Li, S et al.. 2025. Int J Nanomedicine 20, 9389-9405.
    doi: 10.2147/IJN.S527822PMID:40755461
  3. Membrane Expression Enhances Folding, Multimeric Structure Formation, and Immunogenicity of Viral Capsid Proteins. Cui, J, Yuan, F, Qin, J, Jeon, JH, Yun, DS, Wang, T, Xu, R, Cao, H, Tungate, AA, Netherton, CL et al.. 2025. ACS Infect Dis 11, 2104-2115.
    doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c00067PMID:40632771
  4. Engineering myeloid cells for cancer immunotherapy. Chen, J, Zhao, Y, Chen, X, Yan, J, Liu, F, Romee, R. 2025. Cancer Cell 43, 1593-1597.
    doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2025.06.014PMID:40614738
  5. Selection, Design, and Immunogenicity Studies of ASFV Antigens for Subunit mRNA Cocktail Vaccines with Specific Immune Response Profiles. Yuan, F, Cui, J, Wang, T, Qin, J, Jeon, JH, Ding, H, Whittaker, CA, Xu, R, Cao, H, Chen, J et al.. 2025. ACS Infect Dis 11, 1907-1921.
    doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c00029PMID:40478837
  6. Selection, Design and Immunogenicity Studies of ASFV Antigens for Subunit mRNA Cocktail Vaccines with Specific Immune Response Profiles. Yuan, F, Cui, J, Wang, T, Qin, J, Jeon, JH, Ding, H, Whittaker, CA, Xu, R, Cao, H, Chen, J et al.. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.10.08.617156PMID:39416081
  7. Non-pathogenic E. coli displaying decoy-resistant IL18 mutein boosts anti-tumor and CAR NK cell responses. Yang, S, Sheffer, M, Kaplan, IE, Wang, Z, Tarannum, M, Dinh, K, Abdulhamid, Y, Bobilev, E, Shapiro, R, Porter, R et al.. 2025. Nat Biotechnol 43, 1311-1323.
    doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02418-6PMID:39367093
  8. CAR memory-like NK cells targeting the membrane proximal domain of mesothelin demonstrate promising activity in ovarian cancer. Tarannum, M, Dinh, K, Vergara, J, Birch, G, Abdulhamid, YZ, Kaplan, IE, Ay, O, Maia, A, Beaver, O, Sheffer, M et al.. 2024. Sci Adv 10, eadn0881.
    doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn0881PMID:38996027
  9. Adhesive anti-fibrotic interfaces on diverse organs. Wu, J, Deng, J, Theocharidis, G, Sarrafian, TL, Griffiths, LG, Bronson, RT, Veves, A, Chen, J, Yuk, H, Zhao, X et al.. 2024. Nature 630, 360-367.
    doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07426-9PMID:38778109
  10. Bosutinib Stimulates Macrophage Survival, Phagocytosis, and Intracellular Killing of Bacteria. da Silva, RAG, Stocks, CJ, Hu, G, Kline, KA, Chen, J. 2024. ACS Infect Dis 10, 1725-1738.
    doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00086PMID:38602352
More Publications
Photo credit: Kelsey Montgomery

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