Liye Chen

Dr Liye Chen originally trained in Medicine at HuaZhong University of Science and Technology. He subsequently developed his interest in rheumatology research during his Versus Arthritis-funded PhD (2009-2013, Paul Bowness Group, University of Oxford), during which he described the regulation of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B*27 antigen presentation and expression by endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1) in Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS).

After the PhD, he continued to work on AS as a postdoc at the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Science (NDORMS) in the University of Oxford. He showed for the first time that the AS-associated HLA-B variations at position 97 have significant effects on the expression of multiple HLA-B alleles. He also identified a novel Th17-regulating microRNA that is present in Th17 cells from AS patients and helped define the unique transcriptome and phenotypes of T-cells from AS patients. These findings promote the understanding of the pathogenesis of AS and related forms of inflammatory arthritis.

From 2015 to 2019, Dr Chen worked as a senior post-doctoral fellow in the ULTRA-DD consortium to identify and validate under-explored novel targets in AS. He identified two novel Th17 epigenetic regulators (BRPF1 and BRPF2) that are required for type 17 responses of CD4 cells from blood and synovial fluid. 

Dr Chen is currently a Career Development Fellow funded by Versus Arthritis. His main research interest is to identify novel therapeutic targets in immune-mediated diseases through genetics led immunological interrogation of genes affecting the risk of disease development.