Mei Lan Chen, Ph.D.
Doctoral Thesis: Xenobiotic Receptors and Transporters in T Cell-Mediated Immunity and Inflammation
Undergraduate Institution: John Jay College
Undergraduate Research: Prior to graduate school, Chen participated in Scripps Research's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program on the institute's Florida campus. The SURF program is a 10-week internship opportunity for college undergraduates to experience biomedical research in laboratories on both (CA and FL) campuses.
Noteworthy Publications: "Physiological expression and function of the MDR1 transporter in cytotoxic T lymphocytes," Journal of Experimental Medicine (2020); "Emerging Roles of Bile Acids in Mucosal Immunity and Inflammation," Mucosal Immunology (2019); "Xenobiotic and Endobiotic Handling by the Mucosal Immune System," Current Opinion in Gastroenterology (2018); "The Xenobiotic Transporter Mdr1 Enforces T Cell Homeostasis in the Presence of Intestinal Bile Acids," Immunity (2017); "Cytokine Networks and T-cell Subsets in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases," Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (2016)
Honors & Awards: World Immune Regulation Meeting: Best Presentation Award (2018); Southeastern Immunology Symposium Award (2018); Robert M. Sandelman Award for Scientific Excellence (2016)
Favorite Aspects of Graduate Studies: "My favorite aspect of the graduate experience is being able to work together with all of the amazing people in the Scripps community, and performing groundbreaking research."
Next Steps: "I will soon begin a new position as an associate scientist at Regeneron in immunoassay development, to screen and identify potential therapeutic antibodies for inflammatory diseases. In the future, I hope to be working on new and improved cancer therapeutics."
Be sure to join us at 10 a.m. PDT on Friday, July 31 for our Virtual Commencement Ceremony! Chen's advisor and mentor, Prof. Mark S. Sundrud, will deliver a few words (as will Chen) about her graduate experience, and viewers can learn about our 43 other 2020 graduates, who are now setting out to build careers that will impact the future of biomedical research.
