Professor of Biology
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.
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 disease processes, leveraging the vast array of genomic data, humanized mice and clinical samples.
Awards
American Association of Advancement of Science, Fellow, 2012
Cheryl Witlock Memorial Prize
Harcourt General Charitable Foundation New Investigator Award
Latham Family Career Development Award
Jianzhu Chen is a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Professor of Biology at MIT, and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. He is also a Principal Investigator at Antimicrobial Resistance Interdisciplinary Research Group at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). He earned his bachelor’s degree from Wuhan University in China and a PhD degree from Stanford University, where he started immunological research in the laboratory of Leonard and Leonore Herzenberg. He was a postdoctoral fellow with Frederick Alt, initially at Columbia University and then at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he was supported by Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship and Arthritis Investigator Award. He was an Instructor at Harvard Medical School before joining the MIT faculty in the Department of Biology in 1994. He has made significant contributions to a broad area of research in immunology, cancer research, infectious diseases, and animal models of human diseases. His research has been recognized by Cheryl Witlock Memorial Prize, Harcourt General Charitable Foundation New Investigator Award, and Latham Family Career Development Award.