Dr Cheng Chen

Cheng is undertaking a PhD studying the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on antiviral immunity in COPD under the supervision of Dr Aran Singanayagam, Professor David Thomas and Professor Robert Snelgrove. She was awarded an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship to explore the mechanisms behind how immune-derived ROS interacts with host defence systems in the airways, using both experimental mouse models and human samples from viral challenge studies. The aim of this work is to identify novel therapeutic targets to reduce the disease burden of COPD exacerbations and their associated mortality.

Cheng was a Fulbright Scholar in 2010, participating in a programme on Leadership through Civic Engagement at Drexel University. She went on to study medicine at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, graduating in 2016. She undertook an intercalated degree in Pharmacology, during which she worked with Professor Edwin Chilvers and Professor Alison Condliffe investigating the role of hypoxia in neutrophil function. She completed her Foundation Training in North East London, Core Medical Training in Edinburgh and is now a Specialty Registrar in Respiratory and General Internal Medicine in the Oxford deanery.