Shih-Hsun Chen, PhD

Shih-Hsun Chen, PhD

Dr. Shih-Hsun Chen is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, CA. Dr. Chen is working under the mentorship of Dr. Xiaochun Yu whose lab specializes in understanding the mechanisms of DNA damage and repair in breast and ovarian cancer tumorigenesis and response to therapy. Dr. Chen received his Bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Science and Technology from the National Taiwan University (NTU), Taiwan and then obtained his Ph.D. in Biological Science and Technology from the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Taiwan. As a Ph.D. student, Dr. Chen was awarded the Student Distinguished Journal Paper Award by the National Chiao Tung University in recognition of his outstanding scholarly accomplishments. He was also awarded Outstanding Poster Award of 29th Joint Annual Conference of Biomedical Science in Taiwan. In the Dr. Yu’s lab, Dr. Chen’s research focuses on DNA damage response and its role in tumor suppression, especially the molecular mechanism of BRCA1 and 2. His current research interests include understanding the role of dePARylation in DNA damage response and targeting dePARylation by novel small molecules for cancer therapies of BRCA-mutant ovarian cancer. By using a combination of in vitro and in vivo methods, Dr. Chen hopes to not only uncover how PARG inhibitors affect the DNA damage repair, but also develop novel therapeutic strategies for BRCA-mutant ovarian cancer patients.