Kai Chen, PhD

Professor of Research Radiology, Radiation Oncology, and Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences

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Overview

Dr. Chen received a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Nankai University in China in 2001. He then moved to the United States where he performed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. In 2005, Dr. Chen joined Siemens Healthcare USA, Inc. as a research scientist, where he led several projects spanning preclinical discovery to clinical investigation. He was promoted to Group Leader in 2006 and Project Manager in 2008. In the summer of 2009, Dr. Chen moved to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he was part of the Intramural Research Program team of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). In 2010, Dr. Chen joined the USC as a faculty member.

The research interests in Dr. Chen’s laboratory focus on the development of novel theranostic agents for disease diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Chen has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles, and he is a co-inventor of 20 International and US patents. He has served as a reviewer for a number of funding agencies. Dr. Chen has also served as an active reviewer for over 70 research journals. In addition, he sits on the Editorial Board of 7 peer-reviewed international journals. Currently, Dr. Chen serves as President for the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Council (RPSC) of Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

Research Keywords

  • Molecular Imaging and Therapy, Theranostics, PET, Radiochemistry, Nanomedicine, Cancer, Neuroimaging

Publications

  • Near-infrared fluorescence imaging of CD13 receptor expression using a novel Cy5.5-labeled dimeric NGR peptide. Amino Acids. 2014 Jun; 46(6):1547-56.. View in PubMed
  • Radiolabeled nanoparticles for multimodality tumor imaging. Theranostics. 2014; 4(3):290-306.. View in PubMed
  • (99m)Tc-labeled monomeric and dimeric NGR peptides for SPECT imaging of CD13 receptor in tumor-bearing mice. Amino Acids. 2013 May; 44(5):1337-45.. View in PubMed
  • Synthesis and evaluation of 64Cu-labeled monomeric and dimeric NGR peptides for MicroPET imaging of CD13 receptor expression. Mol Pharm. 2013 Jan 07; 10(1):417-27.. View in PubMed
  • Efficient multicistronic co-expression of hNIS and hTPO in prostate cancer cells for nonthyroidal tumor radioiodine therapy. Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2012; 2(4):483-98.. View in PubMed
  • Strain-Promoted Catalyst-Free Click Chemistry for Rapid Construction of (64)Cu-Labeled PET Imaging Probes. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2012 Dec 13; 3(12):1019-23.. View in PubMed
  • [18F]-2′-Fluoro-5-methyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyluracil (18F-FMAU) in prostate cancer: initial preclinical observations. Mol Imaging. 2012 Sep-Oct; 11(5):426-32.. View in PubMed
  • Microwave-assisted one-pot radiosynthesis of 2′-deoxy-2′-[18F]fluoro-5-methyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyluracil ([18F]-FMAU). Nucl Med Biol. 2012 Oct; 39(7):1019-25.. View in PubMed
  • Evaluation of 64Cu labeled GX1: a phage display peptide probe for PET imaging of tumor vasculature. Mol Imaging Biol. 2012 Feb; 14(1):96-105.. View in PubMed
  • Design, synthesis and validation of integrin α2β1-targeted probe for microPET imaging of prostate cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2011 Jul; 38(7):1313-22.. View in PubMed