Biography

Catherine Chen, Ph.D., is the associate group leader of the Therapeutics Development Branch (TDB) Biology Group within NCATS’ Division of Preclinical Innovation. Her research focuses on in vitro disease modeling, assay development and drug repurposing screens to support drug discovery and development for rare and neglected diseases.

Chen earned her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Cornell University, where she studied the role of the YIP1 protein family in membrane trafficking in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. She then trained as a postdoctoral fellow in assay development and high-throughput small-molecule screening at the NIH Chemical Genomics Center. Chen has coauthored more than 65 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Research Topics

Chen co-leads the TDB Biology Group in supporting preclinical development of drug candidates for rare and neglected diseases. She also collaborates with academic researchers, NIH investigators, biotechnology companies and disease foundations on drug discovery for rare and neglected diseases, which includes in vitro disease modeling using patient induced pluripotent stem cell–derived 2-D cells and 3-D organoids, assay development, and drug repurposing screens. In addition to her work on rare and neglected diseases, Chen also has worked on emerging infectious diseases and opioid abuse disorder in response to public health crises.