Dr. Mingnan Chen Headshot

Mingnan Chen, PhD

Academic Information

Departments Member, Nano Institute of Utah - College of Pharmacy , Associate Professor - Molecular Pharmaceutics , Member - Huntsman Cancer Institute

Academic Office Information

mingnan.chen@utah.edu

801-581-7616

Lab

Research Interests

  • Developing better therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases
  • Developing cancer immunotherapeutic for patients who do not respond to existing immunotherapeutic
  • Developing biocompatible polypeptides as formulation materials for vaccines and cancer chemotherapeutics

Dr. Chen is the principle investigator of the laboratory and a member of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Dr. Chen received a bachelor’s degree from the Jimei University, a master’s degree from Peking University, and a Ph.D. degree from the School of Pharmacy of the University of Connecticut followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University. Beside research, he has genuine interest in different cultures and history around the world, and loves reading, swimming, and visiting new places and national parks.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Mingnan Chen is interested in the development and study of protein therapeutics that are able to modulate immunity or treat immune disorders. In the last several years, his research program has fruited in three research areas:

  1. developing better therapeutics for patients with autoimmune diseases,
  2. developing cancer immunotherapeutic for patients who do not respond to existing immunotherapeutic, and
  3. developing biocompatible polypeptides as formulation materials for vaccines and cancer chemotherapeutics.

In the first area, Dr. Chen’s laboratory was able to create a PD-1 immune cell-targeted therapy to treat autoimmune diseases. The therapy not only reverses the course of the disease progression but also avoids immune deficiency that is often associated with the treatment of autoimmune disease (Nature Biomedical Engineering (2019) 3, 292-305). Thus, the therapy is likely a better therapeutic option for autoimmune disease patients. In the second area, the research team led by Dr. Chen developed an innovative approach to “tag” tumor cells that otherwise are indivisible to immune recognition and hence resist to existing cancer immunotherapy. Benefited by this tagging approach, these cancer patients may benefit from a wide range of cancer immunotherapies. In the third area, Dr. Chen’s group invented a new class of biocompatible materials /polypeptides, iTEPs. iTEPs have been proven to be instrumental as drug formulation materials that potentiate cancer vaccines and chemotherapeutics (Biomaterials (2018) 182, 92-103).

Dr. Chen’s research is currently supported by the National Institute of Health and private research foundations such as the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

RELATED LINKS

U of U Faculty Profile

Chen's Lab

College of Pharmacy

Education History

Undergraduate College of Aquaculture, Jimei University
 B Sc
Graduate Training College of Life Science, Peking University
 MSc
Doctoral Training University of Connecticut
 Ph D, Pharmaceutical Sciences

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Zhai Y, Dong S, Naatz LC, Zhang T, Ye X, Tanin D, Andrews T, Chen M. (2026) Immune context governs stage-specific responses to depleting anti-PD-1 antibody in type 1 diabetes. Cell Biomaterials (ePublication). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celbio.2026.100490

    This study provides mechanistic insight into why the same antibody therapy can produce divergent—even opposite—outcomes when administered at different stages of autoimmune disease. In a mouse model of type 1 diabetes, a depleting anti-PD-1 antibody delayed disease during early insulitis but accelerated progression during late insulitis. Integrating single-cell RNA sequencing, flow cytometry, and macrophage depletion, we identified marked stage-specific differences in the pancreatic-islet immune microenvironment. Macrophages emerged as key determinants of treatment response and were required for the detrimental late-stage effect.

  2. Zhang T, Dong S, Zhai Y, Naatz L, Zhou Z, Chen M (2023). Diphtheria toxin-derived, anti-PD-1 immunotoxin, a potent and practical tool to selectively deplete PD-1+ cells. Protein Science. Volume 32, e4741. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.4741

    Here, we report an new anti-PD-1 immunotoxin that is comprised of the catalytic and translocation domains of the diphtheria toxin. The yield of this immunotoxin is ten times higher than the previously reported one, making it an appealing tool. Using this immunotoxin, we revealed roles of PD-1+ immune cells in autoimmune disorders such as type-1 diabetes and relapsing-remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

  3. Zhai Y, Dong S, Li H, Zhang Y, Shami P, Chen M (2022). Antibody-mediated depletion of programmed death 1-positive (PD-1+) cells. J. Control Release. Volume 349, Pages 425-433. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.07.010.

    The article summarized the development and characterization of the first depleting antibody that target mouse programmed death-1 (PD-1) expressing cells. Since PD-1 expressing cells cancer be cancer cells or activated lymphocytes depending disease context, this antibody is a useful tool to investigate roles of PD-1 expressing cells in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inflammation.

  4. Zhai Y, Mossavi R, Chen M (2021). Immune checkpoints, a novel class of therapeutic targets of autoimmune diseases. An invited review for Frontiers in Immunology, section Immunological Tolerance and Regulation. Front. Immunol., 21 April 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.645699

    View More Selected Publications