Dr. Chen’s current research is focused in the following three areas: [1] Developing tools to measure key parameters in mechanobiology; [2] Understanding the fundamental biophysical mechanisms that contribute to diseases and aging process; [3] Applying knowledge gained from basic mechanobiology research to clinical applications. The three research foci are interconnected: we develop measurement tools to quantitatively characterize biophysical phenomena, such as axial stiffness of twisted DNA strands, differential force generation profiles and viscoelasticity of diseased and senescent cells compared to their normal counterparts, and identify the underlying mechanisms for such difference, which can be exploited for disease diagnosis, treatment and manufacturing biomaterials to repair or replace damaged tissues due to aging and/or pathologies.
