Chun-Yuan (Elliot) Chen

Post-Doctoral Fellow
Cellular and Molecular Medicine
chc022 at ucsd.edu

Degrees

Ph.D. in Biological Engineering, University of Southern California, 2016
M.S in Cell and Molecular Biology, Taipei Medical University/ Academia Sinica, 2006
B.S. in Marine Resources, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 2004

Summary

Elliot received his B.S. in in Marine Resources from National Sun Yat-Sen University and his M.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan. As a master student, he conducted his research with Dr. Chwan-Deng Hsiao’s laboratory at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan focusing on deciphering the structure and the function of the nucleocapid protein of SARS coronavirus. After he briefly worked as a research assistant at the Academia Sinica, Elliot joined Dr. Deborah Johnson’s laboratory at the University of Southern California, the lab was moved to the Baylor College of Medicine in 2014, where he received his doctorate degree. During his graduate studies, he identified novel roles of Maf1, a transcription repressor, and RNA pol III-mediated transcription in embryonic stem cell differentiation and adipogenesis. As a postdoc researcher in the Yeo lab, Elliot is interested in understanding the roles of small noncoding RNAs and their interacting RNA binding proteins in cellular differentiation and neurodegenerative diseases.

Publications

  • Chen CY, Lanz BR, Walkey JC, Chang WH, Lu W, Johnson DL. Maf1 and repression of RNA polymerase III-mediated transcription drives adipocyte differentiation. Cell Reportss, 24, 1852-1864 (2018)

  • Rohira, AD, Chen CY, Allen JR, Johnson DL. Covalent Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) Modification of Maf1 Protein Controls RNA Polymerase III-dependent Transcription Repression. Journal of Biological Chemistry 288, 19288–19295 (2013). PMID: 23673667

  • Peck B, Chen CY, Ho KK, Di Fruscia P, Myatt SS, Coombes RC, Fuchter MJ, Hsiao CD, Lam EW. SIRT inhibitors induce cell death and p53 acetylation through targeting both SIRT1 and SIRT2. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 9, 844–855 (2010). PMID:20371709

  • Chen CY, Chang CK, Chang YW, Sue SC, Bai HI, Riang L, Hsiao CD, Huang TH. Structure of the SARS coronavirus nucleocapsid protein RNA-binding dimerization domain suggests a mechanism for helical packaging of viral RNA. Journal of Molecular Biology 368, 1075–1086 (2007). PMID: 17379242