News
May 2022 Our paper about engineered yeasts for the detection of norovirus has been accepted and published on the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
March 2023 Congratulations Dr. Chen on receiving the Dean’s Outstanding New Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech.
February 2022 Congratulations, Yawen, on being awarded a CeZAP ID IGEP Mini Grant again!
January 2023 We have received a four-year grant supported by USDA NIFA to develop engineered yeasts to detect human norovirus.
December 2022 Our paper describing colorimetric CRISPR-based biosensors to detect antimicrobial resistance genes has been accepted by ACS Food Science and Technology.
November 2022 Supported by the ICTAS Diversity and Inclusion seed investment funding, we will work with students from underrepresented groups.
November 2022 We have received an internal seed grant – ICTAS EFO-O seed grant – to develop a smartphone-based detection device.
August 2022 Congratulations. Dr. Xue (Essie) Zhao received the Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, which is one of the most prestigious awards at Virginia Tech
August 2022 Qiaoqiao (Cynthia) Ci, a new graduate student, joins the lab with an ID IGEP scholarship. Welcome!
July 2022 A five-year NIH grant! We are honored to receive a Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA R35). Thanks, NIH!
June 2022 Dr. Xue (Essie) Zhao joins the lab as a postdoctoral associate. Welcome!
May 2022 Samantha will take a 3-month summer internship at Merck biopharmaceutical company. Congrats!
March 2022 Congratulations, Yawen and Tom, on being awarded a CeZAP ID IGEP Grant!
February 2022 Collaborating with plant scientists, our project has been funded by USDA APHIS to address the issue of plant diseases and improve plant-based food production.
January 2022 Welcome our new graduate students, Caiping (Jane) and Shengjie (Jackie).
October 2021 A seed fund from the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-Borne Pathogens (CeZAP) is awarded to support our collaboration project of engineering phage M13. Thank you.
October 2021 An undergraduate student (Zane) majoring in FST joins the Chen research group. He will work on engineered yeast for the separation and concentration of noroviruses.
September 2021 Our collaborative proposal with RIT and UMass Amherst has been funded by USDA NIFA. We will develop a digital microfluidic chip (dChip) to detect foodborne bacteria and viral pathogens. Thank you very much, USDA NIFA.
August 2021 Two graduate students (Yawen and Tom) join the Chen research group. Welcome.
May 2021 Our invited paper with Dr. Huang at the University of Auckland in New Zealand has been published on Current Opinion in Food Science.
March 2021 Congrats Samantha on receiving the Fralin Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF). She will develop a CRISPR-assisted Lateral Flow Assay to detect HIV.
March 2021 Dr. Chen gave an invited seminar talk about biosensors for the food-water-energy nexus in the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
February 2021 My previous undergraduate mentee has published a first-authored paper about engineered phages on Microorganisms.
February 2021 Our collaborative paper about artificial catalysts for food safety has been accepted by Analytical Chemistry.
November 2020 Two seed funds from the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-Borne Pathogens (CeZAP) are awarded to improve food and plant safety. Thank you very much.
October 2020 Dr. Chen gave an invited talk about advanced and innovative biosensors for food safety in the CeZAP serial seminar.
September 2020 We have received a three-year grant supported by USDA NIFA to develop CRISPR-equipped engineered phages (CREEPs) for fresh produce safety.
September 2020 Our collaborative manuscript about smart traceability for food safety has been accepted by Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition.
April 2020 We received a seed grant from Microbial Systems at Virginia Tech to develop a CRISPR-based biosensor to detect antimicrobial-resistance genes (ARGs) in food systems.
December 2019 Our collaborative paper about African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) detection has been accepted by Biosensor & Bioelectronics.
December 2019 Dr. Chen gave two seminar talks about engineered phages for food safety at the Zhejiang University and Jiangnan University.
November 2019 Our paper describing 3D printed microfluidic devices for CTC separation has been accepted and published on Biosensor & Bioelectronics.
August 2021 Our paper about CRISPR-based biosensors to detect antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) has been accepted by Analyst.
August 2019 The Chen research lab at Virginia Tech is now up and running.