About Me

Yuhan (Olivia) Chen is an undergraduate student in chemistry at Vanderbilt University, where she pursues research at the intersection of chemical biology, protein structure and function, and natural product discovery.

She grew up in Beijing, China and Irvine, California, and brings a cross-disciplinary perspective to questions about molecular mechanism, regulation, and biochemical design. At Vanderbilt, she has contributed to projects spanning RiPP biosynthesis, substrate selectivity in TTLL homologs, and protein dynamics in serine proteases.

Her work combines hands-on molecular biology and protein purification with structural and computational analysis, including multiconformer modeling, protein refinement, and flexibility measurements. She is especially interested in how experimental observations and mechanistic models can inform one another.

Outside the lab, Olivia enjoys board games, Texas Hold'em, rock climbing, violin, and time spent outdoors in national parks.

Download CV

Education

Vanderbilt University

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

Anticipated May 2027 · 4.00/4.00 GPA · Dean's List

BiochemistryBioinorganic ChemistryOrganometallic ChemistryOrganic ChemistryAnalytical ChemistryDrug Design and Development

Research

Mitchell Lab • September 2025 – Present

RiPP biosynthesis and cytochrome-associated precursor peptides

Olivia is studying TtlA1, an alternative cytochrome-containing precursor in a newly identified GABAtide RiPP biosynthetic pathway. Her work centers on construct design, heterologous expression, purification strategy, and sample preparation for downstream biochemical characterization.

  • Designed and assembled constructs in pETDuet using Gibson assembly, then verified sequences and transformed into E. coli BL21.
  • Optimized expression and Strep-Tactin XT purification while troubleshooting low-yield behavior in an unusual cytochrome-associated C-terminal domain.
  • Prepared samples for NanoDrop and MALDI-MS to support characterization of post-translational modification.

Mitchell Lab • September 2025 – Present

TTLL homolog substrate preference and mechanistic prediction

A parallel Mitchell Lab project examines how TTLL-family active-site features influence co-substrate amine preference. The broader aim is to connect sequence and binding-site properties with mechanistic prediction in RiPP and tubulin modification chemistry.

  • Investigates active-site motifs and binding-site properties associated with substrate selectivity.
  • Brings together computational comparison and biochemical characterization to support mechanistic prediction.
  • Contributes to questions with disease-relevant implications for post-translational modification biology.

Wankowicz Lab • September 2024 – January 2026

Serine protease entropy redistribution and scaffold dynamics

Previously, Olivia studied how ligand binding redistributes conformational entropy across serine proteases. This project combined careful dataset curation with ensemble-based structural analysis to understand flexibility, water occupancy, and scaffold response.

  • Curated and quality-controlled roughly 1,000 crystal structures across nine serine protease families.
  • Re-refined structures in Phenix and generated multiconformer ensembles with qFit 3.0.
  • Quantified flexibility using RMSF, order parameters, rotamer-state transitions, SASA, and nearby water occupancy across matched structure pairs.

September 2023 – July 2024

Research Assistant

UC Irvine • Laboratory for Retinal Organoids Therapy

Supported retinal organoid cultivation and transplantation workflows in a lab studying vision restoration, with responsibilities spanning tissue handling, postoperative treatment preparation, histological staining, and recovery tracking.

June 2023 – September 2023

Summer Research Intern

Chinese Academy of Sciences • Laboratory for Dynamics of Citrus Protection and Virus

Contributed to citrus disease experiments focused on antibody treatment effectiveness, psylla transmission, MYC2 protein expression, and improved CTAB-based DNA extraction and sample preprocessing workflows.

Experience

September 2025 – Present

Vanderbilt University • Mitchell Lab

Research Assistant

Conducting research on RiPP biosynthesis and TTLL-family substrate selectivity with a focus on construct design, protein expression, purification, and mechanistic interpretation.

September 2024 – January 2026

Vanderbilt University • Wankowicz Lab

Research Assistant

Studied entropy compensation in serine proteases through large-scale structural curation, re-refinement, multiconformer modeling, and flexibility analysis.

September 2023 – July 2024

UC Irvine • Laboratory for Retinal Organoids Therapy

Research Assistant

Worked on retinal organoid cultivation, transplantation workflows, histology, and postoperative monitoring in translational biomedical research.

June 2023 – September 2023

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Summer Research Intern

Explored citrus disease treatment and molecular analysis through transmission experiments, protein expression studies, and DNA extraction workflow refinement.

Awards & Skills

Highlight

VUSRP Awardee

Vanderbilt Undergraduate Summer Research Program

Highlight

ASPET Fellowship Awardee

American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Highlight

Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Symposium

Presentation

Wet Lab

Cell cultureProtein purificationMolecular cloningBacteria cultivationGas phase analysisHistology

Computational / Structural Analysis

PhenixqFit 3.0PyMOLCootPythonProtein structure refinementMulticonformer modelingConformational entropy analysisRotamer analysis

Moments

A small, curated set of images from research settings and life around the work, kept warm but quiet.

Olivia Chen outside the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.
A warm moment away from campus.
Olivia with Vanderbilt lab members and colleagues.
With lab members and mentors.
Olivia with friends on a winter trip.
Shared time with friends.
Olivia on a snowy trip with ski gear.
Exploring outside the lab.
Olivia presenting research at Vanderbilt.
Research presentation at Vanderbilt.
Olivia with classmates at a Vanderbilt event.
Community and campus life.

Visitor Map

Vercel Visitor Map

Blob storage not connected yet

0 Total Pageviews+-

This map can run natively on Vercel. After you create a Vercel Blob store and redeploy, visits will accumulate automatically.

Enable Blob Storage

Contact

Olivia welcomes thoughtful conversations about chemical biology, protein structure and function, natural product biosynthesis, and related academic opportunities.

yuhan.chen@vanderbilt.edu