About

Yin Chen is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy, where he also serves as the Director of the MSPS In-Person program. He is a member of the BIO5 Institute and the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center. Dr. Chen's laboratory utilizes advanced technologies such as single cell RNA sequencing, CRISPR, and gene-targeting mouse models to investigate the molecular pathogenesis of various lung diseases. His research aims to identify novel targets for therapy and drug development, with a focus on understanding the immune responses involved in lung health and disease. His work includes studying mucosal innate immunity and COVID-19, particularly the factors that determine why some infected individuals develop severe symptoms while others do not. His team has developed mouse models and human organoid models of SARS-CoV-2 infection to elucidate vulnerable cell types and pathways leading to severe disease. Additionally, Dr. Chen researches fungal infections and fungal asthma, exploring pathogenic mechanisms of fungi such as Aspergillus, Alternaria, and Coccidioides, and investigating innate immunity to these pathogens. His work also addresses environmental metal and metalloid toxicity, examining how exposures to substances like vanadium and arsenic impact lung health and immunity, with a focus on proteins such as secretoglobins that may offer therapeutic potential.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Virology
• Medicine
• Microbiology
• Computational biology
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• A predator-prey interaction between a marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. and Gram-positive bacteria

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 139 citations

  • Biology
  • Microbiology
  • Biochemistry

  Predator-prey interactions play important roles in the cycling of marine organic matter. Here we show that a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from marine sediments (Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain CF6-2) can kill Gram-positive bacteria of diverse peptidoglycan (PG) chemotypes by secreting the metalloprotease pseudoalterin. Secretion of the enzyme requires a Type II secretion system. Pseudoalterin binds to the glycan strands of Gram positive bacterial PG and degrades the PG peptide chains, leading to cell death. The released nutrients, including PG-derived D-amino acids, can then be utilized by strain CF6-2 for growth. Pseudoalterin synthesis is induced by PG degradation products such as glycine and glycine-rich oligopeptides. Genes encoding putative pseudoalterin-like proteins are found in many other marine bacteria. This study reveals a new microbial interaction in the ocean.

  DOI

• Contamination-free visual detection of SARS-CoV-2 with CRISPR/Cas12a: A promising method in the point-of-care detection

  Biosensors and Bioelectronics · 2020 · 196 citations

  • Virology
  • Computational biology
  • Biology
  DOI

• Co-infection with respiratory pathogens among COVID-2019 cases

  Virus Research · 2020 · 635 citations

  • Biology
  • Microbiology
  • Virology
  DOI

Recent grants

• Project 2 The 26S Proteasome Functionality and Endothelial Dysfunction in Diabetes

  NIH · $21.6M · 2017

• NIH Grant R01AI061695

  NIH · $1.9M · 2013

• TLR3, TICAM1 and human rhinovirus infection

  NIH · $417k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Yu‐Zhong Zhang

  Shandong University

  155 shared

• Xiu‐Lan Chen

  Community Health Center

  95 shared

• Chunyang Li

  Shanghai University

  74 shared

• Peng Wang

  University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

  50 shared

• J. Colin Murrell

  University of East Anglia

  34 shared

• Qi‐Long Qin

  State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology

  33 shared

• David J. Scanlan

  University of Warwick

  33 shared

• Huihui Fu

  28 shared

Awards & honors

• Young Investigator Award of Inhalation and Respiratory Secti…

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