Lihsia Chen, Ph. D.

Associate Professor, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development

E-MAIL: [email protected]


Research Interests:

Cell adhesion is essential to the development of nervous system, from neuronal migration to axon guidance and synapse formation, as well as the maintenance of neural integrity against environmental forces.  To understand how cell adhesion molecules function in such a wide spectrum of events, we focus on the L1 family of cell adhesion receptors, using genetic, molecular, and biochemical approaches to dissect their functions and mechanisms of action.  Mutations in the human L1CAMs can result in numerous neurological syndromes that include the L1 syndrome, autism, and susceptibility to addiction.  


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Moseley-Alldredge M, Sheoran S, Yoo H, O'Keefe C, Richmond JE, Chen L. A role for the Erk MAPK pathway in modulating SAX-7/L1CAM-dependent locomotion in Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics. 2021 Nov 25:iyab215. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyab215.
  • Dong B, Moseley-Alldredge M, Schwieterman AA, Donelson CJ, McMurry JL, Hudson ML, Chen L. EFN-4 functions in LAD-2-mediated axon guidance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Development. 2016;143(7):1182-91.
  • Opperman, K., Moseley-Alldredge, M., Yochem, J., Bell, L., Kanayinkal, T., and Chen, L. A novel nondevelopmental role of the SAX-7/L1CAM cell adhesion molecule in synaptic regulation in C. elegans. Genetics 2015;199:497-509.
  • Yochem J, Lažetić V, Bell L, Chen L, Fay D. C. elegans NIMA-related kinases NEKL-2 and NEKL-3 are required for the completion of molting.. Dev Biol. 2015;398(2):255-266.
  • Chen L, Vu A, Xu J, Moeller S, Ugurbil K, Yacoub E, Feinberg DA. Evaluation of highly accelerated simultaneous multi-Slice EPI for fMRI. Neuroimage. 2014;104C:452-459.
Picture of Lihsia Chen