ASCI / Emerging-Generation Awards, 2022

Walter W. Chen, MD, PhD is a Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis’ lab. He completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University, obtained his MD from Harvard Medical School and PhD from MIT in Dr. David M. Sabatini’s lab, and completed his Pediatrics residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program. His career goal is to be a physician-scientist running a research lab studying metabolic organelles (e.g., mitochondria, peroxisomes) in human health and disease, particularly in neonates, and also providing clinical care to babies in a neonatal intensive care unit. During his PhD, Dr. Chen developed a method for rapid and specific isolation of mitochondria from human cells using immunopurification (MITO-IP) that allows for the direct assessment of metabolites within these organelles, which is necessary for understanding mitochondrial physiology and historically had been a challenge. In the years since, he has led efforts in which they have generated a transgenic MITO-Tag Mouse that allows for the MITO-IP to be performed in vivo and also adapted the MITO-IP method to peroxisomes (PEROXO-IP). The MITO-IP methodology has also been adapted to the study of other organelles, such as lysosomes, melanosomes, and synaptic vesicles, and this family of rapid organellar isolation methods has become a popular way to purify and study organelles and has been utilized in a diverse array of fields, ranging from cancer biology to neuroscience. Dr. Chen’s recognitions include the MITO-IP method being chosen as one of the Breakthroughs of the Year by Science Signaling and his selection as a STAT Wunderkind. During his postdoctoral time, Dr. Chen plans to use the techniques he developed in conjunction with the advanced metabolomic capabilities of the DeBerardinis lab to explore how metabolic organelles contribute to neonatal health and disease.