2 12 18
28
32 1a 2a

Faculty

61 16
19
1b
36

Han-Chiao Isaac Chen, MD

78 faculty photo aa
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center
7 63
Department: Neurosurgery
4 1 23
1f Graduate Group Affiliations 8 a
b
1d
46 Contact information
5c
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
22 Department of Neurosurgery
46 15th Floor, South Tower, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
3e 3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
26
2e Office: 215.662.3487
30
a3 12
4 3 3 3 2 4 b 1f
13 Education:
21 7 BA 21 (Biochemical Sciences) c
2b Harvard University, 2002.
21 7 MD c
33 University of Pennsylvania, 2007.
c
3 27 5 3 3 90 Permanent link
2 29
 
1d
25
21
b6 > Perelman School of Medicine   > Faculty   > Details a
1e 1d
5e

Description of Clinical Expertise

c2 Dr. Chen's clinical interests include functional neurosurgery (i.e., epilepsy surgery and deep brain stimulation) and the resection of tumors in and around eloquent brain tissue.
71

Description of Research Expertise

284 Dr. Chen is interested in developing novel approaches for restoring brain function, especially with respect to the reconstruction of cortical circuitry. His laboratory combines techniques from neural tissue engineering, stem cell biology, and neural interface technologies to generate structured neural and axonal tissue for transplantation. In the in vivo setting, he studies the factors that promote neural tissue survival and integration and the functional effect of this tissue on large-scale neuronal networks. Dr. Chen is also involved in the translation of central nervous system gene therapies using large-animal models.
e 29
23

Selected Publications

114 Chen HI, Jgamadze D, Lim J, Mensah-Brown K, Wolf JA, Mills JA, Smith DH: Functional cortical axon tracts generated from human stem cell-derived neurons. Tissue Engineering, Part A 25(9-10): 736-45, 2019.

c7 Chen HI, Ming GL, Song H: Applications of cerebral organoids to clinical problems. Developmental Dynamics 248(1): 53-64, 2019.

138 Piazza M*, Hitti FL*, Sinha S, Kvint S, Hudgins E, Baltuch G, Diaz-Arrastia R, Litt B, Davis KA, Lucas TH, Chen HI: Surgical outcomes in post-traumatic epilepsy: A single institutional experience. Operative Neurosurgery 18(1): 12-18, 2020.

161 Ulyanova AV, Koch, PF, Cottone C, Grovola MR, Adam CD, Browne KD, Weber M, Russo RJ, Gagnon K, Smith DH, Chen HI, Johnson VE, Cullen DK, Wolf JA: Electrophysiological signature reveals laminar structure of the porcine hippocampus. eNeuro 5(5): ENEURO.0102-18.2018, September 2018.

168 Liaudanskaya V*, Jgamadze D*, Berk AN, Bischoff D, Gu BJ, Hawks-Mayer H, Whalen M, Chen HI^, Kaplan DL^ (*co-first author, ^co-senior author): Engineering advanced neural tissue to mitigate acute cerebral inflammation after brain transplantation in rats. Biomaterials 192: 510-522, 2018.

108 Buch V, Yang AI, Lucas TL, Chen HI: Closed-loop stimulation methods: Current practice and future promise (Chapter 7). Deep Brain Stimulation: Techniques and Practice. Anderson W (eds.). 2018.

191 Struzyna LA, Browne KD, Brodnik ZD, Burrell JC, Harris JP, Chen HI, Wolf JA, Duda JE, Espana RA, Cullen DK: Transplantable dopaminergic micro-tissue engineered neural networks to recapitulate the nigrostriatal pathway in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 12(7): 1702-1716, July 2018.

13b Goel NJ, Mallela AN, Agarwal P, Abdullah KG, Choudhri OA, Kung DK, Lucas TH, Chen HI: Complications predicting perioperative mortality in patients undergoing elective craniotomy: an ACS-NSQIP analysis. World Neurosurgery 118: e195-e205, 2018.

dc Chen HI, Wolf JA, Smith DH: Multichannel activity propagation across an engineered axon network. Journal of Neural Engineering 14(2): 026016, 2017.

134 Chen HI, Jgamadze D, Serruya, MD, Cullen DK, Wolf JA, Smith DH: Neural substrate expansion for the restoration of brain function. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 10: 1, Jan 2016 Notes: eCollection 2016; doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2016.00001.

2c
7 1d
2c back to top
26 Last updated: 10/18/2025
34 The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania c
1f
27
24
 
1d
18
1 49 2 2 1a 32 34
19
12 12 1a 14