Zhijian Chen
Zhijian "James" Chen | |
|---|---|
| 陈志坚 | |
| Born | 1966 (age 58–59) Anxi County, Fujian, China |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education | Fujian Normal University State University of New York at Buffalo |
| Known for | Discovery of cGAS |
| Awards | NAS Award in Molecular Biology (2012) Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2018) Ray Wu award (2018) Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2019) Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (2023) Lasker Award (2024) Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (2025) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular biology |
| Institutions | |
Zhijian "James" Chen (simplified Chinese: 陈志坚; traditional Chinese: 陳志堅; pinyin: Chén Zhìjiān; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tân Chì-kian; born 1966) is a Chinese-American biochemist and professor in the department of molecular biology at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is best known for his discovery of mechanisms by which nucleic acids trigger innate and autoimmune responses from the interior of a cell, work for which he received the 2019 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.