Chen Fan
Laboratory of structural pharmacology
E-mail: chenfansjtu@shsmu.edu.cn
Research Direction
Psychiatric disorders are diseases caused by brain dysfunction, including schizophrenia, depression, autism, etc. The causes ofpsychiatric disorders are complex and generally believed to be related to the disorder of the neurotransmitter system. Therefore, neurotransmitter-related proteinsare major drug targets for the treatment ofpsychiatric disorders. Ion channels play key roles in neurotransmitter-mediated neuronal signal communication. Research on their regulatory mechanisms and pharmacology helps understanding disease mechanisms and guides the developmentof drugs. Our group mainly focuses on drug targets related to psychiatric disorders, and combines interdisciplinary methods such as structural biology, pharmacology and computational biology to conduct research on noval drug targets and innovative drug design. The main research directions are:
1. Regulatory mechanism of ion channel proteins related to psychiatric disorders
2. Pharmacological mechanisms of drugs related to psychiatric disorders
3. Discovery of noval drug targets and innovative drug design
Personal Introduction
Dr.Chen Fanreceived his PhD from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013, and then worked as a postdoc and assistant researcher at internationally renowned universities such as Cornell University Medical College and Stockholm University. In August 2024, he joined the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. In recent years, he has published research papers as the first author in journals such as Nature, Nat Chem Biol and Neuron. The research group mainly focuses on drug targets related topsychiatric disorders, and combines interdisciplinary methods such as structural biology, pharmacology and computational biology to conduct research onnovaldrug targets and innovative drug design.
Education and Training
2008 China Pharmacology University, BS；
2014 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ph.D；
Professional Experience
2015-2017 UT Southwestern Medical Center, Postdoc；
2017-2018 Van Andel Institute , Postdoc；
2018-2021 Weill Cornell Medical College , Postdoc；
2021-2023 Stockholm University, Researcher；
2023-2024 KTH Royal Institute of Technology , Researcher；
2024- Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Group leader.
Publications
Chen Fan, Nattakan Sukomon, Emelie Flood, Jan Rheinberger, Toby W Allen, Crina M Nimigean. Ball-and-chain inactivation in a calcium-gated potassium channel.Nature. 2020
Chen Fan, Emelie Flood, Nattakan Sukomon, Shubhangi Agarwal1, Toby W. Allen ,Crina M. Nimigean. Calcium-gated potassium channel blockade via membrane-facing fenestrations.Nature Chemical Biology. 2023
Chen Fan*, John Cowgill*, Rebecca J. Howard, and Erik Lindahl. Divergent mechanisms of steroid inhibition in the human ρ1 GABAA receptor.Nature Communications. 2024 (* co-first author)
John Cowgill*,Chen Fan*, Nandan Haloi, Victor Tobiasson, Yuxuan Zhuang, Rebecca J. Howard, and Erik Lindahl. Structure and dynamics of differential ligand binding in the human ρ-type GABAA receptor.Neuron. 2023 (* co-first author)
Chen Fan*, Wooyoung Choi*, Juan Du, Wei Lu. Structure of the human lipid-sensitive cation channel TRPC3.Elife. 2018 May 4;7 (* co-first author)
Dagimhiwat H. Legesse,Chen Fan, Jinfeng Teng, Yuxuan Zhuang, Rebecca J. Howard, Colleen M. Noviello, Erik Lindahl, and Ryan E. Hibbs. Structural insights into opposing actions of neurosteroids on GABAA receptors.Nature Communications. 2023
Takuya Tada,Chen Fan, Jennifer S Chen, Ramanjit Kaur, Kenneth A Stapleford, Harry Gristick, Belinda M Dcosta, Craig B Wilen, Crina M Nimigean, Nathaniel R Landau. A soluble ACE2 microbody protein fused to a single immunoglobulin Fc domain is a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2.Cell Reports, 2020
Xiaolong Gao, Han-I Yeh, Zhengrong Yang,Chen Fan, Fan Jiang, Rebecca J. Howard, Erik Lindahl, John C. Kappes & Tzyh-Chang Hwang. Allosteric inhibition of CFTR gating by CFTRinh-172 binding in the pore.Nature Communications. 2024
Xiaolong Gao, Philipp AM Schmidpeter, Vladimir Berka, Ryan J Durham,Chen Fan, Vasanthi Jayaraman, Crina M Nimigean. Gating intermediates reveal inhibitory role of the voltage sensor in a cyclic nucleotide-modulated ion channel.Nature Communications. 2022
Chen Fan*, Xiaohua Ye*, Zhiqiang Ku, Liangliang Kong, Qingwei Liu, Cong Xu, Yao Cong#, Zhong Huang#. Beta-propiolactone inactivation of coxsackievirus A16 induces structural alteration and surface modification of viral capsids.Journal of Virology. 2017 (* co-first author)
Ye,X. *,Fan, C. *, Ku, Z., Zuo, T., Kong, L., Zhang, C., Shi, J., Liu, Q., Chen, T., Zhang, Y., Jiang, W., Zhang, L., Huang, Z. #, Cong, Y. #. Structural Basis for Recognition of Human Enterovirus 71 by a Bivalent Broadly Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody.PLoS Pathogens. 2016 (* co-first author)