Qiuyan Chen, PhD

Dr. Chen received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Vanderbilt University in 2015, under the direction of Dr. Iverson and Dr. Gurevich. There, her research focused on the role of arrestins as key regulators in G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling. Dr. Chen received post-doctoral training under Dr. John Tesmer first at the University of Michigan and then at the Purdue University. There, she studied the phosphorylation step in GPCR signaling pathway and determined the very first structure of a GPCR in complex with its kinase using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).  

Dr. Chen joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2022. Her research group centers on mechanisms of GPCR signaling and the development of selective interventions. Her lab uses various structural tools including crystallography, EPR, fluorophore labeling and the cutting-edge cryo-EM.

1. Chen, Q., Plasencia, M., Li, Z., Mukherjee, S., Patra, D., Chen, C.-L., Klose, T., Yao., X.Q., Chang, L., Andrews, P.C., Tesmer, J.J.G. Structures of rhodopsin in complex with a GPCR kinase. Nature 595, 600-605 (2021).
2. Chen, Q., Zhuo, Y., Sharma, P., Francis, D.J., Chakravarthy, S., Vishnivetskiy, S.A., Berndt, S., Hanson, S.M., Zhan, X., Brooks, E.K., Altenbach, C., Hubbell, W.L., Klug, C.S., Iverson, T.M. and Gurevich, V.V. An eight amino acid segment controls oligomerization and preferred conformation of the two non-visual arrestins. J Mol Biol 19; 433(4):166790 (2021).
3. Rowlands, R.A., Chen, Q., Bouley, R.A., Avramova, L.A., Tesmer, J.J.G., White, A.D. Generation of Highly Selective, Potent, and Covalent G Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase 5 Inhibitors. J Med Chem 64(1), 566-585, 2021 (co-first author).
4. Chen, Q., Perry, N.A., Vishnivetskiy, S.A., Gilbert, N.C., Zhuo, Y., Berndt, S., Singh, P.K., Tholen, J., Ohi, M.D., Gurevich. E.V., Brautigam, C.A., Klug, C.S., Gurevich, V.V., and Iverson, T.M. Structural basis for arrestin-3 activation and signaling. Nat Commun 8, 1427 (2017).
5. Zhuang, T., Chen, Q., Cho, M.-K., Vishnivetskiy, S.A., Iverson, T.M., Gurevich, V.V., Sanders, C.R. Involvement of distinct arrestin-1 elements in binding to different functional forms of rhodopsin. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110, 942-947 (2013) (co-first author).