Staff Profile

I was a medical trainee from China and joined the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University in 2015 to pursue a PhD with Dr Amy Reeve and Professor Sir Doug Turnbull. My main motivation stems from the patients I have encountered as a doctor and wanting to gain a further understanding into neurodegenerative diseases. My PhD project focused on the response of human substantia nigra neurons to mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease and mitochondrial disease. I achieved my PhD in June 2019, and stayed in the Centre as a post-doctoral scientist to continue investigating the consequence of mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegeneration.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is important in the pathogenesis of both inherited and acquired Parkinson’s disease (PD). Such changes are well documented in the neurons of the substantia nigra (SN) and are highly likely to contribute to the neuronal death observed in patients with PD. Similar defects of mitochondrial dysfunction are seen in the substantial nigra of patients with inherited mitochondrial disease but no neuronal loss is observed. The aim of this work is (1) to determine the mechanisms protecting SN neurons in the brains of patients with inherited mitochondrial disease by comparison with the changes seen in brain tissue from patients with PD. (2) to identify new biomarkers and therapeutic avenues for patients with PD by using mass cytometric technology.

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