Biography

Christopher S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

chencs AT bu.edu

 

Christopher Chen, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Tissue Microfabrication Laboratory at Boston University. He has been an instrumental figure in the development of engineered cellular microenvironments in order to engineer cell function. The goal of Dr. Chen’s research is to identify the underlying mechanisms by which cells interact with materials and each other to build tissues, and to apply this knowledge in the biology of stem cells, tissue vascularization, connective tissues, and cancer. He has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the Angiogenesis Foundation Fellowship, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the Mary Hulman George Award for Biomedical Research, and the Herbert W. Dickerman Award For Outstanding Contribution to Science. He serves a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and as a member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology, the Board of Trustees for the Society for BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology, and Defense Sciences Study Group. He is on the Editorial Board for Science Translational Medicine, Annuals Reviews of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Developmental Cell, and an Editor for Journal of Cell Science, BioInterphases, Technology, and Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering.

He received his A.B. in Biochemistry from Harvard, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, and Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from the Harvard-MIT. Health Sciences and Technology Program. He earned his M.D. from the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chen was previously Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and in Oncology at Johns Hopkins University, the Skirkanich Professor of Innovation and founding director of the Center for Engineering Cells and Regeneration at the University of Pennsylvania.