Dr Augustine Chen
| Position | Senior Research Fellow |
|---|---|
| Department | Department of Biochemistry |
| Qualifications | PhD |
| Research summary | Biomedical research, cancer biology, diagnostic test development, biomarker discovery |
| Memberships | Centre for Translational Cancer Research Genetics Otago Maurice Wilkins Centre |
Research
My current research focus involves the co-development of a transformative diagnostic test using Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) with applications in medical, agriculture and environmental sensing sectors. This innovation has attracted pre-seed funding to undertake proof-of-concept experiments towards multimodal signal detection (genetic and epigenetic changes) in circulating tumour DNA. Through minor modification, this test could also be expanded to include other sample types in non-medical sectors and I am currently pursuing collaborations towards such applications.
My speciality has always centred around developing, using or combining existing and emerging methodologies to answer a variety of research questions. This included technical expertise utilising Next Generation Sequencing, high-throughput imaging and drug screening assays, siRNA and miRNA delivery, mouse necropsy as well as standard molecular biology and cell culture techniques.
To date, I have undertaken a range of biomedical research, investigating various aspects of gene regulation in human diseases such as cancer and virus infection (HBV, HPV and norovirus). Such approaches have enabled the identification of disease states and targetable vulnerabilities and has led to the discovery of putative therapeutic drugs (which led to a provisional patent filing) and the development of a diagnostic test for a NZ company (which attracted joint funding from the Ministry of Science and Innovation Technology Transfer Voucher Scheme).
Additional details
Dr Augustine Chen, Centre for Translational Research - Te Aho Matatū.
Publications
Bhandari, B. K., Lim, C. S., Remus, D. M., Chen, A., van Dolleweerd, C., & Gardner, P. P. (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, 17(10), e1009461. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009461
Bougen-Zhukov, N., Nouri, Y., Godwin, T., Taylor, M., Hakkaart, C., Single, A., Brew, T., Permina, E., Chen, A., Black, M. A., & Guilford, P. (2019). Allosteric AKT inhibitors target synthetic lethal vulnerabilities in E-cadherin-deficient cells. Cancers, 11(9), 1359. doi: 10.3390/cancers11091359
Beetham, H., Chen, A., Telford, B. J., Single, A., Jarman, K. E., Lackovic, K., … Guilford, P. (2019). A high-throughput screen to identify novel synthetic lethal compounds for the treatment of E-cadherin-deficient cells. Scientific Reports, 9, 12511. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48929-0
Godwin, T. D., Kelly, S. T., Brew, T. P., Bougen-Zhukov, N. M., Single, A. B., Chen, A., Stylianou, C. E., … Currie, S. K., Telford, B. J., Beetham, H. G., … Black, M. A., & Guilford, P. J. (2019). E-cadherin-deficient cells have synthetic lethal vulnerabilities in plasma membrane organisation, dynamics and function. Gastric Cancer, 22(2), 273-286. doi: 10.1007/s10120-018-0859-1
Single, A., Beetham, H., Telford, B. J., Guilford, P., & Chen, A. (2015). A comparison of real-time and endpoint cell viability assays for improved synthetic lethal drug validation. Journal of Biomolecular Screening, 20(10), 1286-1293. doi: 10.1177/1087057115605765
Bhandari, B. K., Lim, C. S., Remus, D. M., Chen, A., van Dolleweerd, C., & Gardner, P. P. (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, 17(10), e1009461. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009461
Journal - Research Article
Beetham, H., Chen, A., Telford, B. J., Single, A., Jarman, K. E., Lackovic, K., … Guilford, P. (2019). A high-throughput screen to identify novel synthetic lethal compounds for the treatment of E-cadherin-deficient cells. Scientific Reports, 9, 12511. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48929-0
Journal - Research Article
Bougen-Zhukov, N., Nouri, Y., Godwin, T., Taylor, M., Hakkaart, C., Single, A., Brew, T., Permina, E., Chen, A., Black, M. A., & Guilford, P. (2019). Allosteric AKT inhibitors target synthetic lethal vulnerabilities in E-cadherin-deficient cells. Cancers, 11(9), 1359. doi: 10.3390/cancers11091359
Journal - Research Article
Godwin, T. D., Kelly, S. T., Brew, T. P., Bougen-Zhukov, N. M., Single, A. B., Chen, A., Stylianou, C. E., … Currie, S. K., Telford, B. J., Beetham, H. G., … Black, M. A., & Guilford, P. J. (2019). E-cadherin-deficient cells have synthetic lethal vulnerabilities in plasma membrane organisation, dynamics and function. Gastric Cancer, 22(2), 273-286. doi: 10.1007/s10120-018-0859-1
Journal - Research Article
Single, A., Beetham, H., Telford, B. J., Guilford, P., & Chen, A. (2015). A comparison of real-time and endpoint cell viability assays for improved synthetic lethal drug validation. Journal of Biomolecular Screening, 20(10), 1286-1293. doi: 10.1177/1087057115605765
Journal - Research Article
Telford, B. J., Chen, A., Beetham, H., Frick, J., Brew, T. P., Gould, C. M., Single, A., Godwin, T., … Guilford, P. (2015). Synthetic lethal screens identify vulnerabilities in GPCR signalling and cytoskeletal organization in E-cadherin-deficient cells. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 14(5), 1213-1223. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.mct-14-1092
Journal - Research Article
Chen, A., Beetham, H., Black, M. A., Priya, R., Telford, B. J., Guest, J., Wiggins, G. A. R., Godwin, T. D., … Guilford, P. J. (2014). E-cadherin loss alters cytoskeletal organization and adhesion in non-malignant breast cells but is insufficient to induce an epithelial-mesenchymal transition. BMC Cancer, 14, 552. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-552
Journal - Research Article
Chen, A., T-Thienprasert, N. P., & Brown, C. M. (2014). Prospects for inhibiting the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in hepatitis B virus. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 20(25), 7993-8004. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i25.7993
Journal - Research Article
Waugh, E., Chen, A., Baird, M. A., Brown, C. M., & Ward, V. K. (2014). Characterization of the chemokine response of RAW264.7 cells to infection by murine norovirus. Virus Research, 181, 27-34. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2013.12.025
Journal - Research Article
Chen, A., & Brown, C. (2012). Distinct families of cis-acting RNA replication epsilon elements from hepatitis B viruses. RNA Biology, 9(2), 130-136. doi: 10.4161/rna.18649
Journal - Research Article
Jacobs, G. H., Chen, A., Stevens, S. G., Stockwell, P. A., Black, M. A., Tate, W. P., & Brown, C. M. (2009). Transterm: A database to aid the analysis of regulatory sequences in mRNAs. Nucleic Acids Research, 37(Database issue), D72-D76. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkn763
Journal - Research Article
Chen, A., Kao, Y. F., & Brown, C. M. (2005). Translation of the first upstream ORF in the hepatitis B virus pregenomic RNA modulates translation at the core and polymerase initiation codons. Nucleic Acids Research, 33(4), 1169-1181.
Journal - Research Article
Chen, A., Grigor, M. R., Thompson, C. M., & Harris, E. L. (1997). Kallikrein binding protein (KBP) maps to rat Chromosome 6 but does not cosegregate with blood pressure in a GH x BN cross. Mammalian Genome, 8(9), 701-703.
Journal - Research Article
