Christopher S. Chen, born in 1968, is an American biological engineer. He is the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University and member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Boston.
Chen has published over 250 research papers. His research investigates the application of engineering principles to control tissue assembly, repair and regeneration, and incorporates areas including nanotechnology, tissue engineering, engineered cellular micro-environments, micro-electromechanical systems and micro-fabrication technologies.
Chen has been awarded numerous awards and distinctions such as ONR Young Investigator Award in 1999, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2000,
Education
Chen completed his Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from Harvard University in 1990, where he conducted research on integrin receptors and biomechanics of running. After spending a year abroad, he joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering in 1993. He then joined the M.D.-Ph.D. program run by the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). He completed his dissertation research with Donald E. Ingber and George M. Whitesides on "Engineering the adhesion of cells to substrates", and received a Ph.D. in 1997 and an M.D. in 1999.
Career
Chen joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and in Oncology in 1999. In 2004, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as the inaugural J. Peter Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in Bioengineering, founded and directed the Penn Center for Engineering Cells and Regeneration, and was a founding member of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In 2013, Chen joined Boston University as Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. In 2019, he was appointed the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University, the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members at Boston University.
Chen has been a member of numerous advisory boards, committees and review groups of organizations such as the Society for BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology, the United States Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Defense Sciences Research Council, and Faculty of 1000 Biology. Chen also holds several leadership positions at the interface of engineering, biology, and medicine, including the founding Director of the Boston University Biological Design Center, the Deputy Director of a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center focused on integrating nanomanufacturing, cellular engineering, and regenerative methods to create personalized fully functionalized heart tissue, and co-Principal Investigator on the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center on Engineering Mechanobiology.
Chen has served as Editor or Editorial Board member for numerous scientific journals, including Science Translational Medicine, Developmental Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Annual Reviews in Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell and Molecular Bioengineering, Technology, and Journal of Cell Science.
Research and work
Most of Chen’s work is at the interdisciplinary research interface between engineering, biology, and medicine. Chen’s main areas of research is in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, where he has made contributions in cellular microenvironments, tissue assembly, and vascular biology. Throughout these studies, he has worked on the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnologies to reveal how cellular organization, mechanics, and adhesive interactions control cellular function.