Chen Lijun

Biography

Chen Lijun Associate Professor in Department of Pharmacology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University. She graduated with M.B. from Jiangxi Medical College (Medical College of Nanchang University), China in 1989. She received her Ph.D. degree in Medicine from Sun Yat-sen University in 2002, and completed her postdoctoral training from 2002 to 2004 at Boston University School of Medicine, MA, USA, employed as a research associate in Department of Biochemistry.

Research Interest

Her focus is mainly on lysyl oxidase and human diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis and cancer. Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive and lethal lung disorder, characterized by the loss of alveolar structure through the apoptosis of epithelial and endothelial cells, proliferation of fibroblast and excessive deposition of extracellular matrix, including fibrillar collagens, fibronetic, elastic fibers and proteoglycans. Lysyl oxidase (LO), a copper (Cu)-dependent amino oxidase, catalyzes covalent crosslinking of collagen and elastin and stabilizes extracellular matrix (ECM). It plays a critical role in morphogenesis and tissue repair of lung and other organs. We have found upregulation of lysyl oxidase in cultured human fetal lung fibroblasts and in rat model exposure to bleomycin.