Training:

9/2010-5/2016        Doctor of Philosophy. Physiology

                               University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, OKC, OK, USA

9/2008-6/2010        Master of Sciences. Oncology

                               Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

9/2003-6/2008        Bachelor of Medicine. Clinical Medicine

                               Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China                    

6/2016-3/2017        Postdoctoral Fellow

                               University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

                               Advisor: Jian-xing Ma, M.D., Ph.D.

Research interests:

Pathological retinal angiogenesis caused by many eye diseases such diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity is a major reason of blindness. My research is focused on the mechanism of which pathological retinal new vessels form. Inflammation, oxidative stress and metabolism disorder play key roles in forming pathological angiogenesis in the retina. In order to find novel therapeutic strategies for inhibiting pathological angiogenesis, we are working on small compounds that may inhibit inflammation cytokines, reduce oxidative stress or restore the normal metabolism in the retina.

Professional Membership:

2014-Present  Member, American Heart Association

2013-Present  Member, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology

2012-Present  Member, American Physiological Society

Selected Publications:

（link to PubMed for all publications）

1. Chen Q, Qiu FF, Zhou KL, Matlock G, Takahashi Y, Yang HF, Moran E, Ma JX. Pathological role of miR-21 in diabetic retinopathy through down-regulation of PPARα. DIABETES. 2017;66:1671–1682.

2. Chen Q, Ma JX. Canonical Wnt signaling in diabetic retinopathy. VISION RES. 2017;139:47-58.

3. Chen Q, Takahashi Y, Oka K, Ma JX. Functional differences of VLDLR splice variants in regulating Wnt signaling. Mol Cell Biol 2016;36:2645–2654.

4. Takahashi Y*, Chen Q*, Rajala, Ma JX, MicroRNA-184 modulates canonical Wnt signaling through the regulation of frizzled-7 expression in the retina with ischemia-induced neovascularization. FEBS Lett, 2015 Apr 28; 589(10):1143-9. PMCID: PMC4406844. (* equal contribution)

5. Murray AR*, Chen Q*, Takahashi Y, Zhou KK, Park K, Ma JX. MiRNA-200b down-regulates Oxidation Resistance 1 (Oxr1) expression in the retina of type 1 diabetes model. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci., 2013. 54(3):1689-97. PMCID: PMC3626515. (* equal contribution)

6. Qiu F, Shin Y, Chen D, Cheng R, Chen Q, Zhou K, Larrick JW, Mendelson AR, Ma JX. Anti-angiogenic effect of a humanized antibody blocking the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Microvasc Res., 2018. Apr. 7; 119:29-37.

7. Qiu FF, Matlock GH, Chen Q, Zhou KL, Du YH, Wang X and Ma JX. Therapeutic effects of PPARα agonist on experimental neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci., 2017 Oct 1;58(12):5065-5075.

8. Hu Y, Chen Y, Ding LX, He XM, Takahashi Y, Gao Y, Shen W, Cheng R, Chen Q, Qi XP, Boulton M, and Ma JX. Pathogenic role of diabetes-induced PPAR-α down-regulation in microvascular dysfunction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2013.110 (38):15401-15406.

Honors and Awards:

1. “Research Merit Award”, 2016 Physiology Retreat, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 2016

2. American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, 2014-2016

3. “Gold Award” for best oral presentation, 11th Annual Harold Hamm Diabetes Center Research Symposium, Oklahoma City, OK, 2014