Cell biology laboratory/Cell Therapy Center was founded in 2002 and is part of the key laboratory of neurodegenerative diseases, Ministry of Education, and center of neural injury and repair, center of Parkinson’s disease, Beijing institutes for brain disorders. Prof. Zhiguo Chen is the current director. At present, there are 4 scientists, 2 technicians, 2 postdocs, and 9 post-graduate students in the lab. Cell biology lab/Cell Therapy Center focuses on basic and translational research of stem cell therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, and immunotherapy for cancers.

The Cell Biology Lab/Cell Therapy Center is equipped with modern facilities and experimental instruments, such as Good Laboratory Practice cell culture facilities, flow cytometer, confocal microscope, and so on. They have established several technical platforms, such as cell biology, molecular biology, experimental animal biology, and immunohistochemistry platforms. The lab/center has conducted several pre-clinical and clinical studies to test multiple types of stem cells in various disease models, and CAR-T therapy and NK therapy for certain cancers. Teaming up with the clinical departments in Xuanwu Hospital, they have initiated projects aiming at treatment of neurodegenerative diseases by using stem cells such as iPSCs and iNSCs, as well as immunotherapy for different cancers.

There are two Ph.D. supervisors in the lab/center, Prof. Zhiguo Chen and Yu Alex Zhang. They have trained more than twenty postgraduate students. The team has undertaken numerous projects supported by the “National Key Research Program”, “National Basic Research Program of China”, “National Natural Science Foundation of China”, and “Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation”, and published more than 50 SCI papers in international SCI journals. The lab members have also received multiple national awards.

The lab has built close collaborations with Stanford University, John Hopkinson University, Karolinska Institute, University of Cambridge, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other departments of the Capital Medical University. Members in the lab/center had visited Wisconsin Madison University, John Hopkinson University, and Stanford University. Lab/center members have participated in the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual conferences and communicated with peers in the stem cell research field.