The Chen Lab aims to understand how viruses interfere with antigen presentation and to identify opportunities to modulate the immune response to a broad range of persistent viral infections. Their approach combines cryo-electron microscopy with peptide transport and major histocompatibility complex presentation assays to understand how viral inhibitory proteins modulate antigen processing.
Cells use certain membrane proteins to pump molecules in or out of cellular structures, moving them from areas of low concentration to high concentration. Chen studies ABC transporters, a class of membrane transporters that power themselves using a form of chemical energy known as ATP. She investigates these proteins’ role in normal cellular processes and in disease, including drug resistance and cystic fibrosis.
