Dr. Irene Chen is a distinguished molecular biophysicist whose pioneering work at the intersection of biochemistry and evolutionary biology has reshaped our understanding of life's origins. She is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (as of 2025), where her laboratory investigates fundamental principles of biomolecular evolution and design. Prior to her appointment at UCLA, Irene A. Chen was an Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara before joining UCLA as a professor, establishing herself as a rising star in prebiotic chemistry research. Her academic journey began with exceptional promise as she earned both a B.A. in chemistry and an M.D.-Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University, conducting doctoral research under Nobel laureate Jack Szostak on protocell membranes, followed by postdoctoral work as a Bauer Fellow in systems biology at Harvard.
Dr. Chen's groundbreaking research has illuminated the fitness landscapes and evolutionary dynamics of catalytic RNA, providing crucial insights into the RNA World hypothesis for the origin of life. Her innovative approach combining in vitro evolution with massive sequencing has created the first comprehensive maps of molecular fitness landscapes, revealing how primitive life forms might have explored sequence space to develop functional biomolecules. By encapsulating functional RNA into simple synthetic cells, her laboratory has discovered unexpectedly rich behaviors that mimic early evolutionary processes, bridging the gap between non-living chemistry and cellular life emergence. Her work with bacteriophages has yielded significant advances in understanding viral evolution with implications for addressing emerging challenges in infectious disease, demonstrating the practical applications of her fundamental research.
As a Simons Investigator for the Collaboration on the Origin of Life since 2013, Dr. Chen has played a pivotal role in shaping the international research agenda for understanding life's emergence from non-living matter. Her laboratory continues to push boundaries by investigating how encapsulated environments affect the functional activity, biophysical properties, and evolutionary potential of RNA, with the goal of enabling systematic understanding of evolution in the RNA World. Beyond her research, Dr. Chen has been instrumental in mentoring the next generation of scientists and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations that bridge chemistry, biology, and physics to tackle fundamental questions about life's origins. Her commitment to scientific excellence continues to drive innovative approaches to understanding how life began, with her ongoing work promising to further illuminate the chemical pathways from simple molecules to the complex systems characterizing all living organisms.
