Assistant Professor and General Mills Chair in Genomics for Healthful Foods
Department of Food Science and Nutrition
Address: FScN 265
Phone: (612) 626-1220
Fax: (612) 625-5272
xlchen@umn.edu

Our lab research aims to understand the molecular and cellular mechanism of the development and prevention of nutrition-related chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.  We are primarily interested in two areas: 1) the role of adipose tissue in the development of obesity-linked insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and 2) how diets influence the risk of obesity and diabetes.  Three specific research interests focus on: a) the regulation of adipose-derived adipokines and inflammatory cytokines in insulin action and metabolism homeostasis; b) the molecular mechanisms linking defective adipogenesis occurring in insulin resistance and diabetes to metabolic dysregulation; c) the molecular mechanisms by which dietary factors or functional food components affect or prevent obesity and diabetes.

• NUTR 4621 Nutrition and Metabolism

Zhang, J., Wu, Y.J., Zhang, Y., LeRoith, D., Bernlohr, D.A. and Chen, X.  The Role of lipocalin 2 in the regulation of inflammation in adipocytes and macrophages.  Molecular Endocrinology  2008 Feb 21; [Epub ahead of print]

Hess, H. and Chen, X.  (2008) Applications of proteomics to the study of adipose tissue. In: Adipose Tissue Protocols –Series: Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 456, 2nd ed., Humana Press

Xiang, C.C., Wu, Y.J., Ma, L., Ding, L., Lisinski, I., Brownstein, M.J., Cushman, S.W. and Chen, X. (2007) Characterization of insulin resistant phenotype of cultured primary rat adipose cells.  Diabetologia  50(5):1070-9

Zhang, J., Wright, W., Bernlohr, D.A. Cushman, S.W. and Chen, X. (2007) Alterations of the classic Pathway of complement in adipose tissue of obesity and insulin resistance. American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism  292(5):E1433-40

Chen, X., Pannell, L., Cushman, S.W. and Hess, H. (2005) Quantitative proteomic analysis of the secretory proteins from adipose cells using a 2D liquid chromatography-MS/MS approach.  Journal of Proteome Research  4(2):570-7

Chen, X., Olausson, T., Al-Hasani, H., Smith, U. and Cushman, S.W.  (2003) Activity, phosphorylation state and subcellular distribution of GLUT4-targedted Akt2 in rat adipose cells.  Journal of Cell Science  116:3511-3518

• General Mills Chair in Genomics for Healthful Food

• American Diabetes Association

• Fellows Award for Research Excellence from National Institutes of Health (2004)