Rate My Professor Augustine Chen

Dr. Augustine Chen is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences Division at the University of Otago. He also serves as Nanopore Sequencing Specialist in the Otago Genomics Facility and is affiliated with the Centre for Translational Cancer Research – Te Aho Matatū. Holding a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Otago, Chen's career emphasizes biomedical research, particularly in cancer biology and diagnostic innovation. Originating from Malaysia, where his early interest in biology was nurtured through exposure to his father's work in medical training, Chen has contributed significantly to gene regulation studies in human diseases.

Chen's primary research involves co-developing a transformative diagnostic test using Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing for multimodal signal detection—genetic, epigenetic, and fragmentomics—in circulating tumour DNA, with applications in medicine, agriculture, and environmental sensing; this initiative has secured pre-seed funding. His expertise spans next-generation sequencing, high-throughput imaging and drug screening assays, siRNA and miRNA delivery, standard molecular biology, cell culture, and animal model systems. Investigations into cancer, focusing on E-cadherin loss, synthetic lethality, gastric cancer models, and vulnerabilities in CDH1-deficient cells, alongside viral infections (HBV, HPV, norovirus), have yielded a provisional patent for putative therapeutic drugs and a diagnostic test supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation Technology Transfer Voucher Scheme. In 2015, he received a $50,000 Lottery Health Research grant for automated high-throughput cell imaging equipment. Key publications include Decourtye-Espiard et al. (2026), 'E-cadherin loss in Cd44-positive gastric cells initiates diffuse gastric cancer in a murine model' (Gut); Chen et al. (2021), 'Analysis of 11,430 recombinant protein production experiments reveals that protein yield is tunable by synonymous codon changes of translation initiation sites' (PLoS Computational Biology); Telford et al. (2019), 'Allosteric AKT Inhibitors Target Synthetic Lethal Vulnerabilities in E-Cadherin-Deficient Cells' (Cancers); and Beetham et al. (2019), 'A high-throughput screen to identify novel synthetic lethal compounds for the treatment of E-cadherin-deficient cells' (Scientific Reports). Chen has presented at the Pores and Pours Oxford Nanopore Symposium (2024), NZSBMB 50th Anniversary Conference (2023), and others, and is involved with Genetics Otago and the Maurice Wilkins Centre.