Ping Chen

As a computational biologist, I am dedicated to bridging the gap between data science and medical research. I earned my Ph.D. in Medical Systems Biology from the University of Helsinki in 2016, where my doctoral dissertation focused on the ‘Quantitative Study of Transcriptome Dynamics during Evolution and Treatment Resistance in Cancer’. Following my Phd, I pursued received postdoctoral research training on Smart-seq2/3 single cell methodology in Rickard Sandberg’s group, and on immunometabolism in Myriam Aouadi’s group at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Since 2022, I have been leading my independent research group at the Division of Clinical Chemistry in KI LABMED. Our team is deeply engaged in data-driven research on human cardiometabolic diseases, encompassing both computational method development and in-depth mechanistic studies. Additionally, since September 2023, I have started my second lab at the University of Helsinki in Finland. This lab is dedicated to investigating the regulation of alternative splicing in human metabolic diseases and cancers.

*Research funding*
My research has received funding from Swedish Research Council, CIMED, Jeanssons Stiftelser, SRP Diabetes, Karolinska Institutet, Research Council of Finland, Sigrid Jusélius Foundation and iCAN – Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship. 

*Commission of trust*

- KI Liver Academy steering group member (2025--)

- Member of master thesis evaluation committee and member of doctoral student half-time review committee at Karolinska Institutet (2023--)
- Doctoral education board member at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet (2022--)
- Associate Editor of Journal of Translational Medicine (2020-2024)
- Secretary of the Junior Faculty Steering Group leadership at Karolinska Institutet (2022-2023)  and vice chair (2024)
- Organization committee member of Karolinska Discovers seminar series (2021-2022)

We study human obesity and related metabolic disorders, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and diabetes. I am particularly enthusiastic about developing AI-driven tools to enhance our insights on disease diagnostics. Additionally, my focus includes advancing data-driven methodologies to explore the roles of immune cells and transcriptional regulation, with a special emphasis on RNA splicing, in these diseases.

Since 2022, I have been leading my independent research group at the Division of Clinical Chemistry in KI LABMED. Our team is deeply engaged in data-driven research on human cardiometabolic diseases, encompassing both computational method development and in-depth mechanistic studies. Our data-driven research aims to develop new precise diagnosis and treatment strategies for patients and further dissect the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving disease pathogenesis . In close collaboration with multidisciplinary researchers, we integrate longitudinal patient data,
multi-omics technologies as well as novel computational and experimental approaches in our research. Since September 2023, I have started a second lab in the University of Helsinki in Finland. This lab is dedicated to investigating the role of alternative splicing in human metabolic diseases and cancers.

* Co-organiser of the Karolinska Basic Bioinformatics course for doctoral students (2022-2024)
* Teaching in Basic Bioinformatics courses (2019-2022)
* Teaching in LABMED courses (2022--)
* Co-supervisor of two ongoing PhD students at KI MedH (2021--) and main supervisor of my lab members (2023--)