Kai Chen, PhD

Title(s)Associate Professor Of Research Radiology
SchoolKeck School of Medicine of Usc
AddressCSC 103
Health Sciences Campus
Los Angeles CA 90089-9061
Phone+1 323 442 3582
ORCID ORCID Icon0000-0002-8647-1182 Additional info
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    Dr. Chen received a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Nankai University in China in 2001. He then moved to the United States where he performed his postdoctoral research in the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. In 2005, Dr. Chen joined Siemens Healthcare USA, Inc. as a research scientist, where he led several projects spanning preclinical discovery to clinical investigation. He was promoted to Group Leader in 2006 and Project Manager in 2008. In the summer of 2009, Dr. Chen moved to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he was part of the Intramural Research Program team of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). In 2010, Dr. Chen joined the USC as a faculty member.

    The research interests in Dr. Chen’s laboratory focus on the development of novel theranostic agents for disease diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Chen has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles, and he is a co-inventor of 20 International and US patents. He has served as a reviewer for a number of funding agencies. Dr. Chen has also served as an active reviewer for over 70 research journals. In addition, he sits on the Editorial Board of 7 peer-reviewed international journals. Dr. Chen has been elected as the member of Board of Directors for the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Council of Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

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    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help. to make corrections and additions.
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    Altmetrics Details PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. Molecular Imaging of Tumor Microenvironment to Assess the Effects of Locoregional Treatment for Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Hepatol Commun. 2022 04; 6(4):652-664. Chen Q, Chen AZ, Jia G, Li J, Zheng C, Chen K. PMID: 34738743; PMCID: PMC8948593.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    2. Understanding the Exchange of Systemic HDL Particles Into the Brain and Vascular Cells Has Diagnostic and Therapeutic Implications for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Front Physiol. 2021; 12:700847. Van Valkenburgh J, Meuret C, Martinez AE, Kodancha V, Solomon V, Chen K, Yassine HN. PMID: 34552500; PMCID: PMC8450374.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    3. Recent advances and applications of microspheres and nanoparticles in transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2022 03; 14(2):e1749. Jia G, Van Valkenburgh J, Chen AZ, Chen Q, Li J, Zuo C, Chen K. PMID: 34405552; PMCID: PMC8850537.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    
    4. A comparison of the monomeric [68Ga]NODAGA-NGR and dimeric [68Ga]NOTA-(NGR)2 as aminopeptidase N ligand for positron emission tomography imaging in tumor-bearing mice. Eur J Pharm Sci. 2021 Nov 01; 166:105964. Israel I, Elflein K, Schirbel A, Chen K, Samnick S. PMID: 34375678.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    5. Exploring Solvent Effects in the Radiosynthesis of 18F-Labeled Thymidine Analogues toward Clinical Translation for Positron Emission Tomography Imaging. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci. 2021 Feb 12; 4(1):266-275. Li J, Van Valkenburgh J, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 33615178; PMCID: PMC7887844.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    6. Supramolecular nanosubstrate-mediated delivery system enables CRISPR-Cas9 knockin of hemoglobin beta gene for hemoglobinopathies. Sci Adv. 2020 10; 6(43). Yang P, Chou SJ, Li J, Hui W, Liu W, Sun N, Zhang RY, Zhu Y, Tsai ML, Lai HI, Smalley M, Zhang X, Chen J, Romero Z, Liu D, Ke Z, Zou C, Lee CF, Jonas SJ, Ban Q, Weiss PS, Kohn DB, Chen K, Chiou SH, Tseng HR. PMID: 33097539; PMCID: PMC7608838.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    
    7. Radiofluorinated GPC3-Binding Peptides for PET Imaging of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Mol Imaging Biol. 2020 02; 22(1):134-143. Li Y, Zhang J, Gu J, Hu K, Huang S, Conti PS, Wu H, Chen K. PMID: 31044341; PMCID: PMC7007182.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    8. Recent advances in the development of nanoparticles for multimodality imaging and therapy of cancer. Med Res Rev. 2020 05; 40(3):909-930. Liu M, Anderson RC, Lan X, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 31650619.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    9. Preclinical evaluation of a 64Cu-labeled disintegrin for PET imaging of prostate cancer. Amino Acids. 2019 Nov; 51(10-12):1569-1575. Jadvar H, Chen K, Park R, Yap LP, Vorobyova I, Swenson S, Markland FS. PMID: 31621030; PMCID: PMC6881555.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    10. Small molecules as theranostic agents in cancer immunology. Theranostics. 2019; 9(25):7849-7871. Li J, Van Valkenburgh J, Hong X, Conti PS, Zhang X, Chen K. PMID: 31695804; PMCID: PMC6831453.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 13     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    11. Near-Infrared Hybrid Rhodol Dyes with Spiropyran Switches for Sensitive Ratiometric Sensing of pH Changes in Mitochondria and Drosophila melanogaster First-Instar Larvae. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2019 Nov 18; 2(11):4986-4997. Zhang Y, Xia S, Mikesell L, Whisman N, Fang M, Steenwinkel TE, Chen K, Luck RL, Werner T, Liu H. PMID: 31912007; PMCID: PMC6945768.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    12. PET Imaging of Adenosine Receptors in Diseases. Curr Top Med Chem. 2019; 19(16):1445-1463. Li J, Hong X, Li G, Conti PS, Zhang X, Chen K. PMID: 31284861.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    13. Polyethyleneimine-Coated Manganese Oxide Nanoparticles for Targeted Tumor PET/MR Imaging. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018 Oct 17; 10(41):34954-34964. Zhu J, Li H, Xiong Z, Shen M, Conti PS, Shi X, Chen K. PMID: 30234287; PMCID: PMC7469916.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    14. Cross-Linked Fluorescent Supramolecular Nanoparticles for Intradermal Controlled Release of Antifungal Drug-A Therapeutic Approach for Onychomycosis. ACS Nano. 2018 07 24; 12(7):6851-6859. Wang F, Yang P, Choi JS, Antovski P, Zhu Y, Xu X, Kuo TH, Lin LE, Kim DNH, Huang PC, Xu H, Lee CF, Wang C, Hsu CC, Chen K, Weiss PS, Tseng HR. PMID: 29851454.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    15. PET imaging of Hsp90 expression in pancreatic cancer using a new 64Cu-labeled dimeric Sansalvamide A decapeptide. Amino Acids. 2018 Jul; 50(7):897-907. Wang X, Zhang J, Wu H, Li Y, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 29691700; PMCID: PMC7457833.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    16. 64Cu-Labeled multifunctional dendrimers for targeted tumor PET imaging. Nanoscale. 2018 Mar 29; 10(13):6113-6124. Ma W, Fu F, Zhu J, Huang R, Zhu Y, Liu Z, Wang J, Conti PS, Shi X, Chen K. PMID: 29547220; PMCID: PMC7473786.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 7     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    17. Albumin/vaccine nanocomplexes that assemble in vivo for combination cancer immunotherapy. Nat Commun. 2017 12 05; 8(1):1954. Zhu G, Lynn GM, Jacobson O, Chen K, Liu Y, Zhang H, Ma Y, Zhang F, Tian R, Ni Q, Cheng S, Wang Z, Lu N, Yung BC, Wang Z, Lang L, Fu X, Jin A, Weiss ID, Vishwasrao H, Niu G, Shroff H, Klinman DM, Seder RA, Chen X. PMID: 29203865; PMCID: PMC5715147.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 49     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    18. Transformative Nanomedicine of an Amphiphilic Camptothecin Prodrug for Long Circulation and High Tumor Uptake in Cancer Therapy. ACS Nano. 2017 09 26; 11(9):8838-8848. Zhang F, Zhu G, Jacobson O, Liu Y, Chen K, Yu G, Ni Q, Fan J, Yang Z, Xu F, Fu X, Wang Z, Ma Y, Niu G, Zhao X, Chen X. PMID: 28858467.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 24     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    19. Effect of Androgen on Normal Biodistribution of [18F]-2'-Fluoro-5-methyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyluracil (18F-FMAU) in Athymic Non-tumor-bearing Male Mice. Anticancer Res. 2017 02; 37(2):475-479. Jadvar H, Park R, Yap LP, Chen K, Hughes L, Conti P. PMID: 28179292; PMCID: PMC5404414.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Animals
    20. Cross-Linked Fluorescent Supramolecular Nanoparticles as Finite Tattoo Pigments with Controllable Intradermal Retention Times. ACS Nano. 2017 01 24; 11(1):153-162. Choi JS, Zhu Y, Li H, Peyda P, Nguyen TT, Shen MY, Yang YM, Zhu J, Liu M, Lee MM, Sun SS, Yang Y, Yu HH, Chen K, Chuang GS, Tseng HR. PMID: 27997116; PMCID: PMC5577983.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 3     Fields:    
    21. Evaluation of (188)Re-labeled NGR-VEGI protein for radioimaging and radiotherapy in mice bearing human fibrosarcoma HT-1080 xenografts. Tumour Biol. 2016 Jul; 37(7):9121-9. Ma W, Shao Y, Yang W, Li G, Zhang Y, Zhang M, Zuo C, Chen K, Wang J. PMID: 26768609.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    22. Pretargeted Positron Emission Tomography Imaging That Employs Supramolecular Nanoparticles with in Vivo Bioorthogonal Chemistry. ACS Nano. 2016 Jan 26; 10(1):1417-24. Hou S, Choi JS, Garcia MA, Xing Y, Chen KJ, Chen YM, Jiang ZK, Ro T, Wu L, Stout DB, Tomlinson JS, Wang H, Chen K, Tseng HR, Lin WY. PMID: 26731174; PMCID: PMC4893318.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 12     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    23. In Vivo Tumor Angiogenesis Imaging Using Peptide-Based Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probes. Methods Mol Biol. 2016; 1444:73-84. Huang R, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 27283419; PMCID: PMC7469915.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    24. Boramino acid as a marker for amino acid transporters. Sci Adv. 2015 Sep; 1(8):e1500694. Liu Z, Chen H, Chen K, Shao Y, Kiesewetter DO, Niu G, Chen X. PMID: 26601275; PMCID: PMC4643766.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 15     Fields:    
    25. Targeted Prostate Gland Biopsy With Combined Transrectal Ultrasound, mpMRI, and 18F-FMAU PET/CT. Clin Nucl Med. 2015 Aug; 40(8):e426-8. Jadvar H, Chen K, Ukimura O. PMID: 26018690; PMCID: PMC4494895.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 7     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    26. Development of PET probes for cancer imaging. Curr Top Med Chem. 2015; 15(8):795-819. Huang R, Wang M, Zhu Y, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 25732787.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 7     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    27. In vivo NIRF imaging-guided delivery of a novel NGR-VEGI fusion protein for targeting tumor vasculature. Amino Acids. 2014 Dec; 46(12):2721-32. Ma W, Li G, Wang J, Yang W, Zhang Y, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 25182731.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 7     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    28. Recent advances in diagnosis and treatment of gliomas using chlorotoxin-based bioconjugates. Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2014; 4(5):385-405. Cheng Y, Zhao J, Qiao W, Chen K. PMID: 25143859; PMCID: PMC4138135.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 16  
    29. 68Ga-labeled cyclic NGR peptide for microPET imaging of CD13 receptor expression. Molecules. 2014 Aug 05; 19(8):11600-12. Shao Y, Liang W, Kang F, Yang W, Ma X, Li G, Zong S, Chen K, Wang J. PMID: 25100253; PMCID: PMC6271277.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    30. MicroPET imaging of CD13 expression using a (64)Cu-labeled dimeric NGR peptide based on sarcophagine cage. Mol Pharm. 2014 Nov 03; 11(11):3938-46. Li G, Wang X, Zong S, Wang J, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 25054774.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 17     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    31. A direct comparison of tumor angiogenesis with ⁶⁸Ga-labeled NGR and RGD peptides in HT-1080 tumor xenografts using microPET imaging. Amino Acids. 2014 Oct; 46(10):2355-64. Shao Y, Liang W, Kang F, Yang W, Ma X, Li G, Zong S, Chen K, Wang J. PMID: 24990522.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    32. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging of CD13 receptor expression using a novel Cy5.5-labeled dimeric NGR peptide. Amino Acids. 2014 Jun; 46(6):1547-56. Li G, Xing Y, Wang J, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 24652439.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 6     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    33. Radiolabeled nanoparticles for multimodality tumor imaging. Theranostics. 2014; 4(3):290-306. Xing Y, Zhao J, Conti PS, Chen K. PMID: 24505237; PMCID: PMC3915092.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 42     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    34. (99m)Tc-labeled monomeric and dimeric NGR peptides for SPECT imaging of CD13 receptor in tumor-bearing mice. Amino Acids. 2013 May; 44(5):1337-45. Ma W, Kang F, Wang Z, Yang W, Li G, Ma X, Li G, Chen K, Zhang Y, Wang J. PMID: 23456486.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 15     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    35. Synthesis and evaluation of 64Cu-labeled monomeric and dimeric NGR peptides for MicroPET imaging of CD13 receptor expression. Mol Pharm. 2013 Jan 07; 10(1):417-27. Chen K, Ma W, Li G, Wang J, Yang W, Yap LP, Hughes LD, Park R, Conti PS. PMID: 23190134.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 23     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    36. Efficient multicistronic co-expression of hNIS and hTPO in prostate cancer cells for nonthyroidal tumor radioiodine therapy. Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2012; 2(4):483-98. Li G, Xiang L, Yang W, Wang Z, Wang J, Chen K. PMID: 23145364; PMCID: PMC3484425.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2  
    37. Strain-Promoted Catalyst-Free Click Chemistry for Rapid Construction of (64)Cu-Labeled PET Imaging Probes. ACS Med Chem Lett. 2012 Dec 13; 3(12):1019-23. Chen K, Wang X, Lin WY, Shen CK, Yap LP, Hughes LD, Conti PS. PMID: 24900423; PMCID: PMC4025793.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 16  
    38. [18F]-2'-Fluoro-5-methyl-1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyluracil (18F-FMAU) in prostate cancer: initial preclinical observations. Mol Imaging. 2012 Sep-Oct; 11(5):426-32. Jadvar H, Yap LP, Park R, Li Z, Chen K, Hughes L, Kouhi A, Conti P. PMID: 22954187; PMCID: PMC3443080.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 8     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    39. Microwave-assisted one-pot radiosynthesis of 2'-deoxy-2'-[18F]fluoro-5-methyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranosyluracil ([18F]-FMAU). Nucl Med Biol. 2012 Oct; 39(7):1019-25. Chen K, Li Z, Conti PS. PMID: 22503457.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 2     Fields:    
    40. Evaluation of 64Cu labeled GX1: a phage display peptide probe for PET imaging of tumor vasculature. Mol Imaging Biol. 2012 Feb; 14(1):96-105. Chen K, Sun X, Niu G, Ma Y, Yap LP, Hui X, Wu K, Fan D, Conti PS, Chen X. PMID: 21360213; PMCID: PMC3629956.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 20     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    41. Design, synthesis and validation of integrin α2β1-targeted probe for microPET imaging of prostate cancer. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2011 Jul; 38(7):1313-22. Huang CW, Li Z, Cai H, Chen K, Shahinian T, Conti PS. PMID: 21350963.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    42. Integrin targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics. Theranostics. 2011 Feb 17; 1:189-200. Chen K, Chen X. PMID: 21547159; PMCID: PMC3086622.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 68     Fields:    
    43. Positron emission tomography imaging of cancer biology: current status and future prospects. Semin Oncol. 2011 Feb; 38(1):70-86. Chen K, Chen X. PMID: 21362517; PMCID: PMC3060704.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 33     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    44. A Cy5.5-labeled phage-displayed peptide probe for near-infrared fluorescence imaging of tumor vasculature in living mice. Amino Acids. 2012 Apr; 42(4):1329-37. Chen K, Yap LP, Park R, Hui X, Wu K, Fan D, Chen X, Conti PS. PMID: 21212998.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 17     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    45. Target-specific delivery of peptide-based probes for PET imaging. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2010 Aug 30; 62(11):1005-22. Chen K, Conti PS. PMID: 20851156.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 40     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    46. Phage display-derived peptides for osteosarcoma imaging. Clin Cancer Res. 2010 Aug 15; 16(16):4268-77. Sun X, Niu G, Yan Y, Yang M, Chen K, Ma Y, Chan N, Shen B, Chen X. PMID: 20570932; PMCID: PMC2921467.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 17     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    47. Design of targeted cardiovascular molecular imaging probes. J Nucl Med. 2010 May 01; 51 Suppl 1:3S-17S. Anderson CJ, Bulte JW, Chen K, Chen X, Khaw BA, Shokeen M, Wooley KL, VanBrocklin HF. PMID: 20395345; PMCID: PMC3629978.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 12     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    48. Design and development of molecular imaging probes. Curr Top Med Chem. 2010; 10(12):1227-36. Chen K, Chen X. PMID: 20388106; PMCID: PMC3632640.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 50     Fields:    Translation:Humans
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