Qiang Chen | Professor
Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University

Dr. Qiang “Shawn” Chen is a molecular biologist who specializes in developing novel human therapeutics and vaccines in plants to combat infectious diseases, cancer, and biological warfare reagents. His research aims to ameliorate diseases and improve human health, as well as to contribute new knowledge to the basic understanding of how gene expression and protein modification are regulated in plants.   Dr. Chen and his team use rational design strategies to develop biologics that possess superior efficacy and safety.  Flavivirus therapeutics and vaccine development and the modulation of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of viral infections are part of their research focus. His team has developed monoclonal antibody (MAb) variants in plants that have shown promise in improving brain targeting, eliminating ADE, and enhancing efficacy against West Nile, Dengue and Chikungunya virus compared to their parent MAbs.  The disease targets also include Zika virus, Ebola virus and colorectal cancer.  In addition, Dr. Chen has expertise in QA/QC and biochemistry research under FDA’s cGMP regulations, drawn from his more than a decade of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry directing research in both plant and mammalian cell culture systems. He is interested in mentoring students and scientists in these areas of translational research for conducting human clinical trials. Dr. Chen is a Professor at the School of Life Sciences and a faculty member at the Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy in the Biodesign Institute