Doctor Zhonghua Chen

RESEARCH LECTURESHIP,
Natural Science (SoSH)

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Contact
Biography
Publications
Research
Teaching

Personal

Qualifications

PhD University of Tasmania

UWS Organisational Unit (School / Division)

Natural Science (SoSH)

Contact

Email:	Z.Chen@uws.edu.au
Extension:	1934
Mobile:
Location:	M15.G.49 Hawkesbury
Website:

Biography

Dr. Zhong-Hua Chen is a research lecturer in the University of Western Sydney with expertise in plant stress physiology, systems and molecular biology. Dr. Chen has been working in a few research institutions as a University Research Associate in Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research (TIAR), a postdoctoral fellow in University of Glasgow, and a Visiting Scholar in Zhejiang University. Dr. Chen was the recipient the prestigious Endeavoured International Postgraduate Research Scholarship in 2005 and Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad in 2007.

Dr. Chen gained extensive experience in plant stress physiology and electrophysiology during his PhD research in the Biophysics Laboratory and Plant Stress Physiology Laboratory in University of Tasmania from 2005 to 2008. In Glasgow University, he further extended his research work by combining electrophysiology with ratio imaging, confocal microscopy and molecular biological technique in guard cells and root cells. Dr. Chen is one of the co-developers of comprehensive cellular homeostatic modelling software for guard cell in collaboration with researchers from Glasgow University and Cambridge University. His research has resulted in 25 research publications include 10 in the top journals such as Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal, The Plant Cell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Although Dr. Chen’s role is research focused, he has been actively participating in undergraduate teaching in the School of Science and Health of UWS. He is a member of the Australian Society of Plant Scientists (ASPS) and the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). He actively serves as the Cell Biology Representative of ASPS, a member of the editorial board for Plant Growth Regulation, and a reviewer for many leading journals such as Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Cell and Environment, Environmental and Experimental Botany.

This information has been contributed by Doctor Chen.

Teaching

Previous Teaching Areas

300790 Agriculture, Food and Health, 2012
300791 Sustainable Food Production, 2012
300816 Cell Biology, 2012

Publications

Chapters in Books

Chen, Z., Wu, D., Eisenach, C., Hills, A., Zhang, G. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'Studying plant salt tolerance with the voltage clamp technique', Plant Salt Tolerance, Humama Press, Springer 9781617799860.
Chen, Z. (2012), 'Studying plant salt tolerance with the voltage clamp technique', Plant Salt Tolerance: Methods and Protocols, Humama Press 9781617799853.
Chen, Z. and Blatt, M. (2010), 'Guard cell membrane transport', Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 9780470015902.

Journal Articles

Dai, F., Nevo, E., Wu, D., Comadran, J., Zhou, M., Qiu, L., Chen, Z. and Beiles, A. (2012), 'Tibet is one of the Centres of Domestication of Cultivated Barley', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 5.
Chen, Z., Hills, A., Batz, U., Amtmann, A., Lew, V. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'Systems dynamic modeling of the stomatal guard cell predicts emergent behaviors in transport, signaling, and volume control', Plant Physiology, 17.
Hills, A., Chen, Z., Amtmann, A., Blatt, M. and Lew, V. (2012), 'OnGuard, a computational platform for quantitative kinetic modelling of guard cell physiology', Plant Physiology, 17.
Chen, Z., Eisenach, C., Xu, X., Hills, A. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'Protocol: optimised electrophyiological analysis of intact guard cells from Arabidopsis', Plant Methods, .
Eisenach, C., Chen, Z., Grefen, C. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'The trafficking protein SYP121 of Arabidopsis connects programmed stomatal closure and K+ channel activity with vegetative growth', Plant Journal, 11.
Hua, S., Yu, H., Zhang, Y., Lin, B., Ding, H., Zhang, D., Ren, Y. and Chen, Z. (2012), 'Variation of carbohydrates and macronutrients during the flowering stage in canola ('Brasscia napus' L.) plants with contrasting seed oil content', Australian Journal of Crop Science, 8.
Dai, F., Zhang, G., Nevo, E., Wu, D., Comadran, J., Zhou, M., Qiu, L., Chen, Z., Beiles, A. and Chen, G. (2012), 'Tibet is one of the centers of domestication of cultivated barley', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 5.
Eisenach, C., Chen, Z., Grefen, C. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'The trafficking protein SYP121 of Arabidopsis connects programmed stomatal closure and K+ channel activity with vegetative growth', Plant Journal, 11.
Hills, A., Chen, Z., Amtmann, A., Blatt, M. and Lew, V. (2012), 'Onguard, a computational platform for quantitative kinetic modeling of guard cell physiology', Plant Physiology, 17.
Chen, Z., Hills, A., Batz, U., Amtmann, A., Lew, V. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'Systems dynamic modeling of the stomatal guard cell predicts emergent behaviors in transport, signaling, and volume control', Plant Physiology, 17.
Hua, S., Yu, H., Zhang, Y., Lin, B., Ding, H., Zhang, D., Ren, Y. and Chen, Z. (2012), 'Variation of carbohydrates and macronutrients during the flowering stage in canola (Brasscia napus L.) plants with contrasting seed oil content', Australian Journal of Crop Science, 8.
Chen, Z., Wu, D., Eisenach, C., Hills, A., Zhang, G. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'Studying plant salt tolerance with voltage clamp technique', Methods in Molecular Biology, 15.
Chen, Z., Eisenach, C., Xu, X., Hills, A. and Blatt, M. (2012), 'Protocol : optimised electrophyiological analysis of intact guard cells from Arabidopsis', Plant Methods, 11.
Ceasar, K., Elgass, K., Chen, Z., Huppenberger, P., Witthoft, J., Schleifenbaum, F., Blatt, M., Oecking, C. and Harter, K. (2011), 'A fast brassinolide-regulated response pathway in the plasma membrane of Arabidopsis thaliana', Plant Journal, 13.
Chen, Z., Grefen, C., Donald, N., Hills, A. and Blatt, M. (2011), 'A bicistronic, Ubiquitin-10 promoter-based vector cassette for transient transformation and functional analysis of membrane transport demonstrates the utility of quantitative voltage clamp studies on intact Arabidopsis root epidermis', Plant, Cell and Environment, 11.
Wu, D., Dai, F., Zhang, G., Qiu, L., Xu, L., Ye, L., Chen, M., Sun, D., Chen, Z., Zhang, H. and Jin, X. (2011), 'Genetic variation of HvCBF genes and their association with salinity tolerance in Tibetan annual wild barley', PLoS ONE, .
Zheng, L., Zhang, B., Zou, T., Chen, Z. and Wang, J. (2010), 'Nitric oxide interacts with reactive oxygen species to regulate oligosaccharide-induced artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annua hairy roots', Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, 8.
Grefen, C., Chen, Z., Honsbein, A., Donald, N., Hills, A. and Blatt, M. (2010), 'A novel motif essential for SNARE interaction with the K+ channel KC1 and channel gating in Arabidopsis', Plant Cell, 18.
Chen, Z., Hills, A., Lim, C. and Blatt, M. (2010), 'Dynamic regulation of guard cell anion channels by cytosolic-free Ca2+ concentration and protein phosphorylation', Plant Journal, 10.
Shabala, S., Shabala, L., Cuin, T., Pang, J., Percey, W., Chen, Z., Conn, S. and +2 External, A. (2010), 'Xylem ionic relations and salinity tolerance in barley', Plant Journal, 15.
Honsbein, A., Sokolovski, S., Grefen, C., Campanoni, P., Pratelli, R., Paneque, M., Chen, Z., Johansson, I. and Blatt, M. (2009), 'A tripartite SNARE-K+ channel complex mediates in channel-dependent K+ nutrition in Arabidopsis', Plant Cell, 19.
Chen, Z., Hills, A., Lew, V. and Blatt, M. (2009), 'Systems analysis of membrane transport and homeostasis in stomatal guard cells', Society of Experimental Biology, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A, 2.
Chen, Z., Shabala, S., Mendham, N., Newman, I., Zhang, G. and Zhou, M. (2008), 'Heritability of K+ efflux trait and salt tolerance in barley', Crop Science, 7.
Zepeda-Jazo, I., Shabala, S., Chen, Z. and Pottosin, I. (2008), 'Na+-K+ transport in roots under salt stress', Plant Signaling and Behavior, 3.
Zhou, M., Li, H., Chen, Z. and Mendham, N. (2008), 'Combining ability of barley flour pasting properties', Journal of Cereal Science, 5.
Chen, Z., Zhou, M., Newman, I., Mendham, N., Zhang, G. and Shabala, S. (2007), 'Potassium and sodium relations in salinised barley tissues as a basis of differential salt tolerance', Functional Plant Biology, 13.
Chen, Z., Cuin, T., Zhou, M., Twomey, A., Naidu, B. and Shabala, S. (2007), 'Compatible solute accumulation and stress mitigating effects in barley genotypes contrasting in their salt tolerance', Journal of Experimental Botany, 11.
Chen, Z., Newman, I., Shabala, S., Pottosin, I., Cuin, T., Fuglsang, A., Tester, M., Jha, D., Zepeda-Jazo, I., Zhou, M. and Palmgren, M. (2007), 'Root plasma membrane transporters controlling K+/Na+ homeostasis in salt stressed barley', Plant Physiology, 12.
Tajbakhsh, M., Zhou, M., Chen, Z. and Mendham, N. (2006), 'Physiological and cytological response of salt-tolerant and non-tolerant barley to salinity during germination and early growth', Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 8.
Shabala, S., Shabala, L., Gradmann, D., Chen, Z., Newman, I. and Mancuso, S. (2006), 'Oscillations in plant membrane transport: model predictions, experimental validation, and physiological implications', Journal of Experimental Botany, 14.
Hassan, M., Zhang, G., Wu, F., Wei, K. and Chen, Z. (2005), 'Zinc alleviates growth inhibition and oxidative stress caused by cadmium toxicity in rice', Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 7.
Chen, Z., Wu, F., Wang, X. and Zhang, G. (2005), 'Heterosis in CMS hybrids of cotton for photosynthetic and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters', Euphytica, 9.
Chen, Z., Newman, I., Zhou, M., Mendham, N., Zhang, G. and Shabala, S. (2005), 'Screening plants for salt tolerance by measuring K+ flux: a case study for barley', Plant, Cell and Environment, 17.

Conference Papers

Chen, Z., Zhou, M., Mendham, N., Shabala, S., Newman, I. and Zhang, G. (2006), 'Inheritance of salt tolerance of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)', Proceedings of the 13th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference, Glasgow, New Zealand.

Research

My research interests are in plant physiology, molecular and systems biology.

Extensive experience in electrophysiology: MIFE technique for non-invasive ion flux measurements, voltage-clamp and patch-clamp techniques.

Expertise in ratio imaging technique and in confocal microscopy in guard cells and root cells.

Familiar with molecular biological skills including DNA and RNA extractions, purification and quantification, RT-PCR and qRT-PCR, membrane protein extraction and quantification, gene cloning and expressing in Xenopus oocytes, HEK293 cells, guard cells and root epidermal cells.

Familiar with whole plant physiological tools such as photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, nutrient analysis, and radioactive tracers for ion and solute transport.

Statistical and mathematical programming skills for cellular homeostatic modelling for guard cell.

Some experience in classic and molecular genetics and mark-assisted plant breeding.