Ritchie Chen, PhD, MSc
Assistant Professor
Neurological Surgery
School of Medicine

We engineer technologies to study brain-body physiology and to inform new therapeutic approaches for bioelectronic medicine. We fuse approaches in synthetic biology, nanotechnology, device engineering, and systems neuroscience to develop genetically-targeted tools to target, map, readout, and/or control neural circuits while minimizing damage to tissue.

Education & Training

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• Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2016
• B.S. Bioengineering, Materials Science and Engineering University of California, Berkeley 2010

Websites

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• Chen Lab (sites.google.com)

Publications (18)

Top publication keywords:
Wireless TechnologyMagneticsMetal NanoparticlesDeep Brain StimulationMagnetite NanoparticlesBehavior, AnimalBrainVentral Tegmental AreaHabenulaOptogeneticsPeptoidsOptical FibersFerric CompoundsSensationNeurons

• Cardiogenic control of affective behavioural state.
  Nature 2023 Hsueh B, Chen R, Jo Y, Tang D, Raffiee M, Kim YS, Inoue M, Randles S, Ramakrishnan C, Patel S, Kim DK, Liu TX, Kim SH, Tan L, Mortazavi L, Cordero A, Shi J, Zhao M, Ho TT, Crow A, Yoo AW, Raja C, …
• Deep brain optogenetics without intracranial surgery.
  Nature biotechnology 2020 Chen R, Gore F, Nguyen QA, Ramakrishnan C, Patel S, Kim SH, Raffiee M, Kim YS, Hsueh B, Krook-Magnusson E, Soltesz I, Deisseroth K
• Protection of tissue physicochemical properties using polyfunctional crosslinkers.
  Nature biotechnology 2018 Park YG, Sohn CH, Chen R, McCue M, Yun DH, Drummond GT, Ku T, Evans NB, Oak HC, Trieu W, Choi H, Jin X, Lilascharoen V, Wang J, Truttmann MC, Qi HW, Ploegh HL, Golub TR, Chen SC, Frosch MP, Kulik HJ, …
• Neural Recording and Modulation Technologies.
  Nature reviews. Materials 2017 Chen R, Canales A, Anikeeva P
• Wireless magnetothermal deep brain stimulation.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2015 Chen R, Romero G, Christiansen MG, Mohr A, Anikeeva P

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• Cell-type-specific population dynamics of diverse reward computations.
  Cell 2022 Sylwestrak EL, Jo Y, Vesuna S, Wang X, Holcomb B, Tien RH, Kim DK, Fenno L, Ramakrishnan C, Allen WE, Chen R, Shenoy KV, Sussillo D, Deisseroth K
• Changes in genome architecture and transcriptional dynamics progress independently of sensory experience during post-natal brain development.
  Cell 2021 Tan L, Ma W, Wu H, Zheng Y, Xing D, Chen R, Li X, Daley N, Deisseroth K, Xie XS
• Multiple convergent hypothalamus-brainstem circuits drive defensive behavior.
  Nature neuroscience 2020 Lovett-Barron M, Chen R, Bradbury S, Andalman AS, Wagle M, Guo S, Deisseroth K
• Stretchable and Fully Degradable Semiconductors for Transient Electronics.
  ACS central science 2019 Tran H, Feig VR, Liu K, Wu HC, Chen R, Xu J, Deisseroth K, Bao Z
• Remotely controlled chemomagnetic modulation of targeted neural circuits.
  Nature nanotechnology 2019 Rao S, Chen R, LaRocca AA, Christiansen MG, Senko AW, Shi CH, Chiang PH, Varnavides G, Xue J, Zhou Y, Park S, Ding R, Moon J, Feng G, Anikeeva P
• Neuronal Dynamics Regulating Brain and Behavioral State Transitions.
  Cell 2019 Andalman AS, Burns VM, Lovett-Barron M, Broxton M, Poole B, Yang SJ, Grosenick L, Lerner TN, Chen R, Benster T, Mourrain P, Levoy M, Rajan K, Deisseroth K
• One-step optogenetics with multifunctional flexible polymer fibers.
  Nature neuroscience 2017 Park S, Guo Y, Jia X, Choe HK, Grena B, Kang J, Park J, Lu C, Canales A, Chen R, Yim YS, Choi GB, Fink Y, Anikeeva P
• High-Performance Ferrite Nanoparticles through Nonaqueous Redox Phase Tuning.
  Nano letters 2016 Chen R, Christiansen MG, Sourakov A, Mohr A, Matsumoto Y, Okada S, Jasanoff A, Anikeeva P
• Engineering intracellular biomineralization and biosensing by a magnetic protein.
  Nature communications 2015 Matsumoto Y, Chen R, Anikeeva P, Jasanoff A
• Targeted Magnetic Nanoparticles for Remote Magnetothermal Disruption of Amyloid-β Aggregates.
  Advanced healthcare materials 2015 Loynachan CN, Romero G, Christiansen MG, Chen R, Ellison R, O'Malley TT, Froriep UP, Walsh DM, Anikeeva P
• Maximizing hysteretic losses in magnetic ferrite nanoparticles via model-driven synthesis and materials optimization.
  ACS nano 2013 Chen R, Christiansen MG, Anikeeva P
• Folding of a single-chain, information-rich polypeptoid sequence into a highly ordered nanosheet.
  Biopolymers 2011 Kudirka R, Tran H, Sanii B, Nam KT, Choi PH, Venkateswaran N, Chen R, Whitelam S, Zuckermann RN
• Free-floating ultrathin two-dimensional crystals from sequence-specific peptoid polymers.
  Nature materials 2010 Nam KT, Shelby SA, Choi PH, Marciel AB, Chen R, Tan L, Chu TK, Mesch RA, Lee BC, Connolly MD, Kisielowski C, Zuckermann RN