Education

2006, Ph.D., Rush University, Chicago.

Professional Experience

2007-2012, Postdoctoral Fellow, UTSW Medical Center;

2012-Present, Professor, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University.

Research Area

The central goal of our research is to understand the molecular mechanisms of myelinating glial cell development and disease in the mammalian nervous systems. Research in our lab will focus on two areas: 1) Epigenetic and chromatin remodeling control of myelinating cell (oligodendrocyte and Schwann cell) differentiation and disease. 2) Signaling mechanisms including GPCR signaling in glial differentiation and regeneration.

Selected Publications

1. Olig2 Targets Chromatin Remodelers To Enhancers To Initiate Oligodendrocyte Differentiation. Yu Y*,Y. Chen*, B. Kim*, H. Wang, C. Zhao, X. He, L. Liu, W. Liu, L. M. N. Wu, M. Mao, J. R. Chan, J. Wu and Q. R. Lu.Cell,  2013 152 1-14 (* Equal contribution)

2. HDAC-mediated Deacetylation of NF-κB is Critical for Schwann cell Myelination.Ying Chen, Haibo Wang, Sung Ok Yoon, Xiaomei Xu, Michael Hottiger, Haesun Kim, Eric N. Olson, and Q. Richard Lu. Nature Neuroscience, 2011 Apr;14(4):437-41.

3. The oligodendrocyte-specific G-protein coupled receptor GPR17 is a cell intrinsic timer of myelination. Y.Chen, H. Wu, S. Wang, H. Koito, J. Li, J. Hoang, F. Ye, S. S. Escobar, A. Gow, H. A. Arnett, B. D. Trapp, N. J. Karandikar, J. Hsieh and Q. R. Lu.Nature Neuroscience, 2009 12 1398-1406

4. The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor olig2 is critical for reactive astrocyte proliferation after cortical injury.Chen Y, Miles DK, Hoang T, Shi J, Hurlock E, Kernie SG, Lu QR. J Neurosci. 2008 Oct 22;28(43):10983-9.