Dr. Chen's research focuses on understanding the mechanism of anticancer agents and designing mechanism-based approaches for therapeutic enhancement. He is particularly interested in studying the mechanism of photosensitizing agents, which generate therapeutic effects through the production of reactive oxygen species upon laser light activation. This light-based therapy termed photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been approved for cancer treatment in the clinic. His current research aims to identify important cell signaling pathways and molecular targets that determine the response of vascular-targeted PDT and pharmacologically modulate these molecular targets for therapeutic enhancement. Another research interest in the lab is on the abnormal porphyrin metabolism in tumors. Some tumors have been known to accumulate more porphyrin metabolites particularly protoporphyin IX than normal tissues. Abnormal porphyrin metabolism in tumors has led to the use of porphyrin precursor aminolevulinic acid (ALA) for tumor detection, fluorescence-guided resection, and PDT treatment. He is investigating why tumor cells exhibit enhanced porphyrin accumulation and how this altered porphyrin metabolism can be better used for tumor detection and treatment.
