Dechen Lin, PhD

Dr. Dechen Lin is an Assistant Professor at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of the USC and serves as the Associate Director of Research for the USC Head and Neck Center at the Keck School of Medicine. At the USC Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology, he leads a research program focused on cancer genomics, transcriptional regulation, and epigenomics, particularly in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and esophageal cancers.

Dr. Lin earned his B.S. in Biology from Nanjing University in 2005 and his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 2010. He completed postdoctoral training at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Prior to joining USC in 2022, he held faculty positions at Cedars-Sinai and served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at UCLA.

His research employs advanced genomic and organoid-based models to investigate the molecular mechanisms driving cancer progression and immune evasion. Notably, his recent work identified the gene KMT2C as a key regulator of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, enhancing the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapies in HNSCC.

Dr. Lin’s contributions have been recognized with several awards, including the NIH/NCI R37 MERIT Award (2020), the Ming Hsieh Research Award (2023), and he has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

• Sigma Xi: Elected full member, 2024
• Ming Hsieh Institute: Ming Hsieh Research Award, 2023
• Springer Nature Publishing Group (Oncogene): Readers’ Choice: The best of Oncogene 2019, 2020
• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR): Best of AACR Award: most-cited research article in Cancer Research, 2019
• American Society of Hematology: ASH Fellow Scholar Award, 2015
• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR): Incorporated Scholar-in-Training Award, 2014
• NIH/NCI: NCI R37 MERIT Award, 2020

• Modeling Pathways of Early Growth Dysregulation at the GEJ
  NIH/NIDDK · 1R01DK135562 · May 1, 2024 – May 1, 2029 · Role: MPI
• Pharmacological and dietary inhibition of a novel metabolic-epigenetic crosstalk in head and neck cancer
  NIH · R01DE033648 · Mar 1, 2024 – Jan 31, 2029 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Master regulator transcription factors promote esophageal neoplastic evolution
  NIH · R37CA237022 · Jun 1, 2020 – May 31, 2025 · Role: MPI

• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• Matsuo, Koji
• Lipham, John
• Farnham, Peggy
• Wu-Williams, Anna
• Kim, Anthony