Professor CHEN Zhefan Stephen

Address

(Office): Rm 609, Mong Man Wai Building, CUHK
(Lab): Rm 610, Mong Man Wai Building, CUHK

 People Guanqun Wang 

Phone

(Office): (852) 3943 1298
(Lab): (852) 3943 2304
Fax ---
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Web https://sites.google.com/view/stephenchenlab/home
 

 


Education

2016 Ph.D., The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2012 B.Med.Sci, Southern Medical University


Positions

  • 2025 – present Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • 2021 – 2024 Research Associate, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • 2019 – 2020 Postdoctoral Fellow, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford
  • 2017 – 2018 Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong


Research Interests

  • Neurobiology of primary cilium
  • Pathogenic mechanisms of human neurological diseases
  • Human stem cells and their neuronal derivatives


Representative Publications

Full publication list: ORCID 0000-0002-9276-0378

  1. Chen, Z.S.*, Peng, S.I.*, Leong, L.I., Gall-Duncan, T., Wong, N.S.J., Li, T.H., Lin, X., Wei, Y., Koon, A.C., Huang, J., Sun, J.K.L., Turner, C., Tippett, L., Curtis, M.A., Faull, R.L.M., Kwan, K.M., Chow, H.M., Ko, H., Chan, T.F., Talbot, K., Pearson, C.E. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2025) Mutant huntingtin induces neuronal apoptosis via derepressing the non-canonical poly(A) polymerase PAPD5. Nat. Commun. 16(1), 3307.
  2. Chen, Z.S., Ou, M., Taylor, S., Dafinca, R., Peng, S.I., Talbot, K. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2023) Mutant GGGGCC RNA prevents YY1 from binding to Fuzzy promoter which stimulates Wnt/β-catenin pathway in C9ALS/FTD. Nat. Commun. 14(1), 8420.
  3. Chen, Z.S., Yan, M., Pei, W., Yan, B., Huang, C. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2022) Lignin-carbohydrate complexes suppress SCA3 neurodegeneration via upregulating proteasomal activities. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 218, 690-705.
  4. An, Y., Chen, Z.S., Chan, H.Y.E. and Ngo, J.C.K. (2022) Molecular insights into the interaction of CAG trinucleotide RNA repeats with nucleolin and its implication in polyglutamine diseases. Nucleic Acids Res. 50(13), 7655-7668.
  5. Chen, Z.S., Huang, X., Talbot, K. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2021) A fine balance between Prpf19 and Exoc7 in achieving degradation of aggregated protein and suppression of cell death in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. Cell Death Dis. 12(2), 136.
  6. Peng, S., Guo, P., Lin, X., An, Y., Sze, K.H., Lau, M.H.Y., Chen, Z.S., Wang, Q., Li, W., Sun, J.K.L., Ma, S.Y., Chan, T.F., Lau, K.F., Ngo, J.C.K., Kwan, K.M., Wong, C.H., Lam, S.L., Zimmerman, S.C., Tuccinardi, T., Zuo, Z., Au-Yeung, H.Y., Chow, H.M. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2021) CAG RNAs induce DNA damage and apoptosis by silencing NUDT16 expression in polyglutamine degeneration. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 118(19), e2022940118.
  7. Chen, Z.S.*, Wong, A.K.Y.*, Cheng, T.C., Koon, A.C. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2019) FipoQ/FBXO33, a Cullin-1-based ubiquitin ligase complex component modulates ubiquitination and solubility of polyglutamine disease protein. J. Neurochem. 149(6), 781-798. (Featured on the cover of the issue)
  8. Hong, H.*, Koon, A.C.*, Chen, Z.S.*, Wei, Y., An, Y., Li, W., Lau, M.H.Y., Lau, K.F., Ngo, J.C.K., Wong, C.H., Au-Yeung, H.Y., Zimmerman, S.C. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2019) AQAMAN, a bisamidine-based inhibitor of toxic protein inclusions in neurons, ameliorates cytotoxicity in polyglutamine disease models. J. Biol. Chem. 294(8), 2757-2770. (Featured on the cover of the issue)
  9. Chen, Z.S., Li, L., Peng, S., Chen, F.M., Zhang, Q., An, Y., Lin, X., Li, W., Koon, A.C., Chan, T.F., Lau, K.F., Ngo, J.C.K., Wong, W.T., Kwan, K.M. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2018) Planar cell polarity gene Fuz triggers apoptosis in neurodegenerative disease models. EMBO Rep. 19(9), e45409.
  10. Koon, A.C., Chen, Z.S., Peng, S., Fung, J.M.S., Zhang, X., Lembke, K.M., Chow, H.K., Frank, C.A., Jiang, L., Lau, K.F. and Chan, H.Y.E. (2018) Drosophila Exo70 is essential for neurite extension and survival under thermal stress. J. Neurosci. 38(37), 8071-8086.


Patents

  • Chen, Z.S.; Chan, H.Y.E.; Peng, S.I. miRNA dysregulation correction as a strategy to treat Huntington’s disease. WIPO Patent PCT/IB2023/000721, May 23, 2024.
  • Zhou, X.; Chen, Z.; Yang, B.; Lin, X.; Liu, J.; Liu, Y. Sea moth extract as well as preparation method thereof and application thereof. China Patent CN102973606A, March 20, 2013.


Awards

  • 2018 - 2022 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neurosciences, CUHK and University of Oxford


Teaching

  • 03/2025 Neuroscience (SBMS3204; undergraduate course), School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong


Professional Activities

  • 2025 Judge, Hong Kong Student Science Project Competition (HKSSPC)
  • 2019 – present Review Editor for Neurodegeneration, Frontiers in Neuroscience
  • 2019 External Reviewer for National Research Agency, France
  • 2018 – present Journal Reviewer, Academic journals including Drug Resistance Updates, Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Journal of Cancer, Neural Regeneration Research, Neurobiology of Disease
  • 2018 Discussion Leader, Gordon Research Seminar for Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology
  • 2015 Organizing Committee Member, Hong Kong Inter-University Postgraduate Symposium on Life Sciences