Ling-Ling Chen Topic

Ling-Ling Chen is a Principal Investigator at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science (a.k.a. Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology). She serves as the Founding Director of the State Key Laboratory of RNA Innovation, Science and Engineering (RISE) in China since 2024, and the Deputy Director (Acting Head) at CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science since 2026.

Her research focuses on long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and RNA-centered nuclear bodies. She has made pioneering contributions to elucidating the diversity, biogenesis, localization, and functions of lncRNAs—particularly circular RNAs—and has advanced their biomedical engineering applications. Her work has also deepened the understanding of nuclear body assembly and function, including the nucleolus and nuclear stress bodies. She is the recipient of the XPLORER Prize (2020), the RNA Society Mid-Career Research Award (2021), and the FAOBMB Award for Research Excellence (2024), and was selected as a HHMI International Research Scholar (2017) and an inaugural New Cornerstone Investigator (2022), an EMBO Associate Member (2026), and the Director of the RNA Society (2026).