Biography

• 2019-2024 Dean, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University

• 2016-2019 Associate Dean, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University

• 2016-present Professor, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University

• 2010-2016 Assistant Professor, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University

• 2011-present Principal Investigator, Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Peking University

• 2011-present Principal Investigator, Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences

• 2002-2007 Ph. D., College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

• 1998-2002 B. S., Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University

Research Interests

Integrating chemistry and biology enables probing, understanding, and manipulating biological processes in ways not possible before. Our group focuses on developing chemical tools to elucidate the biological function of glycosylation, with an emphasis on in vivo labeling, visualization, and profiling of glycosylation dynamics. We are particularly interested in exploring the functional roles of glycosylation in metabolic homeostasis and in brain pathophysiology. Much of our research takes a highly interdisciplinary approach to tackle important questions related to human health and disease.

Teaching

• Chemical Biology Fundamentals

Selected Publications

1. Zhang, X.#; Tang, Q.#; Sun, J.; Guo, Y.; Zhang, S.; Liang, S.; Dai, P.; Chen, X.* “Cellular-Scale Proximity Labeling for Recording Cell Spatial Organization in Mouse Tissues” Sci. Adv. 2023, 9, eadg6388.

2. Fan, X.; Song, Q.; Sun, D.; Hao, Y.; Wang, J.; Wang, C.; Chen, X.* “Cell-type-specific labeling and profiling of glycans in living mice” Nat. Chem. Biol.2022, 18, 625-633.

3. Lv, P.; Du, Y.; He, C.; Peng, L.; Zhou, X.; Wan, Y.; Zeng, M.; Zhou, W.; Zou, P.; Li, C.; Zhang, M.; Dong, S.*; Chen, X.*“O-GlcNAcylation modulates liquid–liquid phase separation of SynGAP/PSD-95” Nat. Chem. 2022, 14, 831-840.

4. Sun, D.; Fan, X.;Shi, Y.; Zhang, H.; Huang, Z.; Cheng, B.; Tang, Q.; Li, W.; Zhu, Y.; Bai, J.; Liu, W.; Li, Y.; Wang, X.; Lei, X.; Chen, X.* “ Click-ExM enables expansion microscopy for all biomolecules” Nat. Methods, 2021,18, 107-113.

5. Qin, K; Zhang, H.; Zhao, Z.; Chen, X.* “Protein S-Glyco-Modification Through an Elimination-Addition Mechanism” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 9382-9388.

6. Gao, L.; Song, Q.; Liang, H.; Zhu, Y.; Wei, T.; Dong, N.; Xiao, J.; Shao, F.; Chen, X.*“Legionella Effector SetA as A General O-glucosyltransferase for Eukaryotic Proteins”Nat. Chem. Biol. 2019, 15, 213-216.

7. Huang, R.; Han, M.; Meng, L.; Chen, X.*“Transcriptome-Wide Discovery of Coding and Noncoding RNA-Binding Proteins”Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2018, 115, E3879-E3887.

8. Sun, Y.; Hong, S.; Xie, R.; Huang, R.; Lei, R.; Cheng, B.; Sun, D.; Du, Y.; Nycholat, C.; Paulson, J.; Chen, X.*“Mechanistic Investigation and Multiplexing of Liposome-Assisted Metabolic Glycan Labeling”J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 3592-3602.

9. Qin, W.; Qin, K.; Fan, X.; Peng, L.; Hong, W.; Zhu, Y.; Lv, P.; Du, Y.; Huang, R.; Han, M.; Cheng, B.; Liu, Y.; Zhou, W.; Wang, C.*; Chen, X.*“Artifcial Cysteine S-Glycosylation Induced by Per-O-Acetylated Unnatural Monosaccharides during Metabolic Glycan Labeling” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 1817-1820.

10. Qin, W.; Lv, P.; Fan, X.; Quan, B.; Zhu, Y.; Qin, K.; Chen, Y.; Wang, C.*; Chen, X.* “Quantitative Time-Resolved Chemoproteomics Reveals Stable O-GlcNAc Regulates Box C/D snoRNP Biogenesis” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2017, 114, E6749-E6758.