Staff Profile

I trained as a medical doctor (2007–2012) and neurology trainee (2012–2015) in China, specialising in movement disorders, before moving to the UK in 2015 to join the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University for my PhD. My doctoral research focused on how human substantia nigra neurons respond to mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease and mitochondrial disorders.

I completed my PhD in 2019 and have continued to work on mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegeneration ever since.

My research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. I am especially interested in how mitochondrial dysfunction and cellular stress contribute to disease progression. By combining advanced neuropathological imaging approaches with human cellular models, my work aims to identify biomarkers and explore potential therapeutic strategies.

I am currently an Alzheimer’s Society UK Postdoctoral Fellow (£250K, 2024–2027), where I lead research into disease mechanisms in Lewy body dementia using hiPSC-derived neuronal models to study mitochondrial dysfunction and proteopathic stress, and to support biomarker discovery and compound screening.

I also contribute to collaborative research projects:

Co-Investigator (30%, £320K, 2023–2026): Parkinson’s UK project with Professor Gavin Hudson, studying how astrocytes and neurons interact under mitochondrial stress using hiPSC-derived astrocyte models.

Co-Investigator (5%, awarded 2026): MRC Equipment Grant “Decoding Cellular Networks: Establishing an Advanced ‘Disease-in-a-Dish’ Multi-Electrode Array Hub in the North-East for Drug Discovery”, led by Dr Mouhamed Alsaqati, supporting development of advanced neurophysiology platforms.

My research over the past decade has focused on mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegeneration, supported by funding from several national and international organisations.

As a postdoctoral researcher (2021–2024), supported by the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research and Parkinson’s UK (PIs: Professor Gavin Hudson and Dr Amy Reeve), I worked on mitochondrial fatty-acid oxidation pathways to identify early metabolic changes associated with disease.

During my PhD and early postdoctoral training (2015–2021), funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK (PIs: Dr Amy Reeve and Professor Sir Doug Turnbull), I used imaging mass cytometry to study mitochondrial protein changes and how they relate to disease progression.

To further develop my expertise, I have undertaken research visits to the University of Oxford (with Professor George Tofaris) and the University of the West of England (with Dr Lucy Crompton), strengthening my experience in α-synuclein pathology modelling and astrocyte biology. I continue to collaborate with colleagues across Newcastle, Oxford, Bristol and Dundee on mitochondrial and neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.

I supervise undergraduate research projects as well as MRes and MSci students within the mitochondrial biology and neuroscience modules.

Current postgraduate supervision includes:

• Meagan Farrington (MRC DiMeN DTP, 2026–2030), Main Supervisor
• Jane Tweedy (MRC DiMeN DTP, part-time, 2022–2030), Co-supervisor with Dr Amy Vincent
• Phee Watson Brown (Alzheimer’s Research UK, 2025–2028), Co-supervisor with Dr Michael Keogh

• Articles

  • Dobolyi A, Cservenak M, Bago AG, Chen C, Stepanova A, Paal K, Lee J, Palkovits M, Hudson G, Chinopoulos C. Cell-specific expression of key mitochondrial enzymes limits OXPHOS in astrocytes of the adult human neocortex and hippocampal formation. Communications Biology 2024, 7(1), 1045.
  • Vincent AE, Chen C, Gomes TB, Di Leo V, Laalo T, Pabis K, Capaldi R, Marusich MF, McDonald D, Filby A, Fuller A, Lehmann Urban D, Zierz S, Deschauer M, Turnbull D, Reeve AK, Lawless C. A stagewise response to mitochondrial dysfunction in mitochondrial DNA maintenance disorders. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Basis of Disease 2024, 1870(5), 167131.
  • Chen C, McDonald D, Blain A, Mossman E, Atkin K, Marusich MF, Capaldi R, Bone L, Smith A, Filby A, Erskine D, Russell O, Hudson G, Vincent AE, Reeve AK. Parkinson’s disease neurons exhibit alterations in mitochondrial quality control proteins. npj Parkinson's Disease 2023, 9, 120.
  • Smith LA, Chen C, Lax NZ, Taylor RW, Erskine D, McFarland R. Astrocytic pathology in Alpers’ syndrome. Acta Neuropathologica Communications 2023, 11, 86.
  • Yu X, Arden C, Berlinguer-Palmini R, Chen C, Bradshaw C, Smith AL, Whitehall J, White M, Anderson S, Kattner N, Shaw J, Turnbull D, Greaves LC, Walker M. Mitochondrial complex I subunit deficiency promotes pancreatic α-cell proliferation. Molecular Metabolism 2022, 60, 101489.
  • Chen C, Mossman E, Malko P, McDonald D, Blain AP, Bone L, Erskine D, Filby A, Vincent AE, Hudson G, Reeve AK. Astrocytic Changes in Mitochondrial Oxidative Phosphorylation Protein Levels in Parkinson's Disease. Movement Disorders 2022, 37(2), 302-314.
  • Chen C, McDonald D, Blain A, Sachdeva A, Bone L, Smith ALM, Warren C, Pickett SJ, Hudson G, Filby A, Vincent AE, Turnbull DM, Reeve AK. Imaging mass cytometry reveals generalised deficiency in OXPHOS complexes in Parkinson’s disease. npj Parkinson's Disease 2021, 7(1), 39.
  • Chen C, Vincent AE, Blain AP, Smith AL, Turnbull DM, Reeve AK. Investigation of mitochondrial biogenesis defects in single substantia nigra neurons using post-mortem human tissues. Neurobiology of Disease 2020, 134, 104631.
  • Vincent AE, Rosa HS, Pabis K, Lawless C, Chen C, Grünewald A, Rygiel K, Rocha MC, Reeve AK, Falkous G, Perissi V, White K, Davey T, Petrof BJ, Sayer AA, Cooper C, Deehan D, Taylor RW, Turnbull DM, Picard M. Subcellular origin of mitochondrial DNA deletions in human skeletal muscle. Annals of Neurology 2018, 84(2), 289-301.
  • Reeve AK, Grady JP, Cosgrave EM, Bennison E, Chen C, Hepplewhite PD, Morris CM. Mitochondrial dysfunction within the synapses of substantia nigra neurons in Parkinson’s disease. npj Parkinson's Disease 2018, 4, 9.

• Review

  • Chen C, Turnbull DM, Reeve AK. Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease - Cause or Consequence?. Biology 2019, 8(2), 38.