Welcome to the Jennifer Chen Lab

Targeting acid ceramidase inhibits YAP/TAZ signaling to reduce fibrosis in mice
Alsamman and colleagues' Science Translational Medicine publication highlights acid ceramidase as a novel antifibrotic target by inhibiting YAP/TAZ signaling.
Can't Keep Our "Yap" Shut About YAP/TAZ Signaling!
YAP/TAZ localization in human hepatic stellate cells (HSCs)
Fibrosis "Actin" Up
Alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) immunofluorescence staining in mouse liver
g-NASH-ing Our Teeth About Liver Fibrosis
NASH fibrosis and steatosis in mouse liver

Our Research

The Chen Lab works in the highly cross-disciplinary field of liver fibrosis. Fibrosis is the final common pathway for all etiologies of chronic liver disease. Activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) is the key step in liver fibrogenesis. We aim to identify novel mechanisms that inactivate HSCs as a strategy to treat patients with fibrosis. We have identified several targets, and validated their efficacy using conditional knockout mice in multiple models of liver fibrosis, including those that reproduce nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We are particularly interested in developing new antifibrotic therapies. We have also developed gene signature scores to identify patients with advanced fibrosis, and are interested in validating these prediction scores in patients with chronic liver disease.

 

We are excited to share that we received 2 R01 awards in 2023! One R01 award focuses on delineating molecular mechanisms related to ceramide signaling and fibrosis regression and validation of our gene signature scores. The second R01 award focuses on developing novel inhibitors of acid ceramidase.