The NeoChen Lab is recruiting and will start Oct 1, 2026 in Mol Bio Dept @UTSW! Looking for creative+passionate techs, grad students, postdocs. We apply the lens of neonatal medicine to study #peroxisomes #mitochondria to advance the care of neonates and beyond. @bwfund.bsky.social
Walter W. Chen, MD, PhD
@walterwchen.bsky.social
Neonatologist + incoming Asst Prof in Mol Bio at UTSW via Harvard/MIT MD-PhD, Harvard Pediatric Residency, UTSW Neonatology Fellowship, Postdoc in RJD Lab | STAT Wunderkind, ASCI E-Gen Award, BWF CAMS Studying #metabolism, #mitochondria, #peroxisomes
Very excited to be sharing our new paper, just out in Nature Cell Biology! The big question we investigate: How do migrating cells put their front 🔴 and back 🔵 in the right place?
1/12 🛣️ Mapping nitrogen metabolism has lagged carbon due to substrate diversity. In @natmetabolism.nature.com, we introduce a platform to do this mapping at scale and identify mechanisms by which differentiation state dictates pyrimidine synthesis. 🧵👇 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Big congrats to my postdoc mentor @rjdlab.bsky.social on his election to NAS!! 🎉🎉🎉 An inspiring physician-scientist and wonderful person and mentor.
🌟From the desk of @seanjmorrison.bsky.social: It's a great day for CRI, which now has 2 @nasonline.org members. Congratulations to @rjdlab.bsky.social and his laboratory on this recognition for the quality and impact of their work! #relentlessdiscovery 🧪 cri.utsw.edu/deberardinis...
Thrilled to share that I’ll be starting my lab as an Assistant Professor and Endowed Scholar in the UT Southwestern Molecular Biology Dept this Fall! 🥳 We’ll study #peroxisomes #mitochondria #metabolism via the lens of neonatology 👶🏻, a very exciting frontier in medicine! #neotwitter
New paper from Dr. Wen Gu on the impact of L-2-hydroxyglutarate deficiency on neural stem cell function and neuronal differentiation. Interesting connection between an IEM and chronic oncogene activation. Thanks to Dr. Bushra Afroze and her patients for participating. www.jci.org/articles/vie...
JCI - L-2-hydroxyglutarate impairs neuronal differentiation through epigenetic activation of MYC expression
jci.org
My lab @cri-utsw.bsky.social is looking for a highly motivated postdoct interested in mechanobiology! We are building a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary team working on how mechanical forces shape immune and cancer cell behavior. Come do cool science with me! lnkd.in/gKEXWUGy
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
Really thrilled to have our work on mitochondrial presequence strength out today @jcb.org. We establish quantitative parameters to better define "strong" and "weak" presequences both in vitro and in vivo. This work was spearheaded by the ever talented Youmian Yan, a BBSB graduate student in my lab.
Yan, @ianofbristol.bsky.social, @nieminm.bsky.social et al. define quantitative parameters underlying the strength of mitochondrial-targeting presequences, and demonstrate that yeast require strong presequences to facilitate select metabolic pathways in #mitochondria. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
Regulated decay of microRNAs plays a critical role in controlling body size in mammals! Check out our new paper in @genesdev.bsky.social and see thread previously posted with our pre-print 👇 for more info. Congrats to Collette LaVigne, Jaeil Han, and all authors! genesdev.cshlp.org/cgi/content/...
Plagl1 and Lrrc58 control mammalian body size by triggering target-directed microRNA degradation of miR-322 and miR-503
A biweekly scientific journal publishing high-quality research in molecular biology and genetics, cancer biology, biochemistry, and related fields
genesdev.cshlp.org
I am pleased to present our latest pre-print describing our identification of the long-sought triggers for target-directed microRNA degradation (TDMD) of miR-322 and miR-503, work led by Collette LaVigne and Jaeil Han. For more info, read on! 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/New paper from Zheng Wu, Phong Nguyen et al. @cri-utsw.bsky.social shows how cells balance the two pathways that produce purine nucleotides: de novo purine biosynthesis (DNPB) and purine salvage. The surprising mechanism involves NUDT5, a Nudix hydrolase www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
NUDT5 regulates purine metabolism and thiopurine sensitivity by interacting with PPAT
Cells generate purine nucleotides through de novo purine biosynthesis (DNPB) and purine salvage. Purine salvage represses DNPB to prevent excessive purine nucleotide synthesis through mechanisms that ...
science.org
Interested in organellar metabolomics? Check out my talk tomorrow on how the Rapid Organellar IP technology has enabled discoveries in organellar biology over the past 10 years! Ty Tech Networks for the invite! @cri-utsw.bsky.social @rjdlab.bsky.social www.technologynetworks.com/proteomics/o...
Advances in Proteomics & Metabolomics 2025
Proteomics and metabolomics are unlocking new dimensions in our understanding of biology and disease. This event will highlight the latest developments in mass spectrometry, single-cell proteomics and...
technologynetworks.com
Thrilled to announce the launch of my lab @cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January! We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
We're growing! Our newest Investigator @henrydebelly.bsky.social will join the CRI Tissue #Regeneration Program in January 2026. Learn more about Henry ➡️ cri.utsw.edu/faculty/henr... and 📌apply to research in his lab cri.utsw.edu/careers
New paper - MAPL strikes again! Interested in mitochondrial signalling, inflammation, lysosome biology, pyroptosis, and Parkinson's disease? Have a look, there's something for everyone! Feeling grateful! @mitocollier.bsky.social Funded by #CIHR, @asapresearch.parkinsonsroadmap.org. rdcu.be/eKKz1 🇨🇦
Lab’s 1st preprint! Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate. @cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation. He is on the job market!
I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉 @karalmckinley.bsky.social We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice. We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵
Exciting study from @frisophagy.bsky.social in @chinnery in the Chinnery lab @mrc-mbu.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors involved in the study! #mitochondria Ubiquitin-mediated mitophagy regulates the inheritance of mitochondrial DNA mutations | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Ubiquitin-mediated mitophagy regulates the inheritance of mitochondrial DNA mutations
Mitochondrial synthesis of adenosine triphosphate is essential for eukaryotic life but is dependent on the cooperation of two genomes: nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). mtDNA mutates ~15 times as...
science.org
Leveraging modern scientific tools and techniques, @ishahjain.bsky.social intends to transform our understanding of the critical roles that vitamins play in health and disease.
Bringing Modern Science to Vitamin Biology: Isha Jain Wins NIH Transformative Research Award
Leveraging modern scientific tools and techniques, Jain intends to transform our understanding of the critical roles that vitamins play in health and disease.
gladstone.org
Excited to present my research at the upcoming University of Utah Rising Stars Symposium and meet fellow scientists who love metabolism! @cri-utsw.bsky.social @rjdlab.bsky.social
Please join us for the Diabetes and Metabolism Research Center (DMRC) 2025 Rising Stars in partnership with the Mountain West Prevention Center (MW-PRC). This is a multi-departmental effort, aligned with the University of Utah’s synergistic approach to amplify voices and foster connections
Excited to share that I’ve started my lab as an assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Thank you to all the mentors, friends, and colleagues who have supported me throughout the years!
First post here! Excited to share a new paper and online resource from our lab published today. We developed a mass spectrometry approach that leverages genetic diversity to systematically nominate functional relationships between metabolites and proteins. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Covariation MS uncovers a protein that controls cysteine catabolism - Nature
A mass spectrometry-based approach globally identifies protein regulators of metabolism and reveals the role of LRRC58 in controlling cysteine catabolism.
nature.com
Happy to share our new paper in @nature.com led by staff scientist Xuejing Liu. We report identification of a UCP1-independent pathway of brown fat thermogenesis involving ATP-consuming metabolism of BCFA in peroxisomes. #Obesity #T2D www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Excited to join the @cri-utsw.bsky.social community to advance discoveries in genome instability. We are grateful to UTSW Pathology for 6 wonderful years. 🚨 We are also recruiting motivated postdocs to study how mitotic errors and aberrant nuclear structures drive cancer genome evolution—join us!
WELCOME to the Institute, @peterlylab.bsky.social! Dr. Ly studies how cells maintain genomic integrity and how dysregulation of these processes impacts human health. 🧪Learn more about his research 👉 cri.utsw.edu/faculty/pete... #relentlessdiscovery
I am excited to share my graduate work in the Sabatini and @bartellab.bsky.social labs. Since their discovery, we have known lysosomes possess RNase activity; however, their substrates were not known. Surprisingly we find specific RNAs are targeted for degradation! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Lysosomal RNA profiling reveals targeting of specific types of RNAs for degradation
Autophagy targets a wide variety of substrates for degradation within lysosomes. While lysosomes are known to possess RNase activity, the role of lysosomal RNA degradation in post-transcriptional gene...
biorxiv.org
🍹 @walterwchen.bsky.social et al show that PEX39 cooperates with PEX7 in the peroxisomal import of proteins containing a PTS2 site and uncover an (R/K)PWE motif in PEX39 and PEX13 that binds to PEX7 and facilitates the import of PTS2-containing proteins. bit.ly/4lmjv2l
PEX39 facilitates the peroxisomal import of PTS2-containing proteins - Nature Cell Biology
Chen et al. show that PEX39 cooperates with PEX7 in the peroxisomal import of proteins containing a PTS2 site and uncover an (R/K)PWE motif in PEX39 and PEX13 that binds to PEX7 and facilitates the im...
bit.ly
I’m really beyond thrilled to be included in this years Pew Biomedical Scholars cohort and to be able to meet all the incredible scientists in this program. I was in Scott Kennedy’s lab when he was a Pew Scholar and never thought I’d be lucky enough to also be one! www.pew.org/en/about/new...
Pew Awards 22 Researchers Biomedical Science Grants
pew.org
Happy to announce that I was awarded a pathway to independence award (K99) from the NCI/NIH today to work on studying whole-body metabolism driving cancer cachexia. None of this would be possible without support from @damonrunyon.org, @transactivator.bsky.social and @mvhlab.bsky.social.
RNA N-glycosylation enables immune evasion and homeostatic efferocytosis by chemically caging acp3U. Excited to report this work lead by Vinnie @vinnieviruses.bsky.social and in collaboration with @vijayrathinam.bsky.social in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I’m extremely honored to be recognized with the WICB Junior Research Award. ASCB and WICB have been key to my career development since I attended my first annual meeting in 2005. Congrats to the other awardees!
Meet the 2025 ASCB Award Winners—trailblazing scientists honored for research, mentoring, education, and innovation. Celebrate excellence across all career stages in cell biology. Read more: www.ascb.org/society-news...
A new tragedy for the Endocrine community An outstanding scientist leaves us too soon
I am unspeakably humbled and grateful for this honor - to "wear" Goeddel's name is simply insane. I can only promise to do my best to do it justice. ONWARDS!!!
Our lab has derived over 50 trophoblast organoid lines to better understand how chronic conditions like hypertension and obesity influence placental development and metabolism. (Check out this figure made with @biorender.bsky.social)