His lab specializes in elucidating molecular mechanisms of bacterial infections, using both bacterial genetics and computational genomics approaches. Chen has a broad scientific background in mathematics, physics, medicine, and biology, and has experience in melding these different disciplines into his work. Examples include the application of linear algebra techniques to understand codon usage and to recalibrate next-generation sequencing data. Recently, he’s been focusing on developing higher level automation for application in rapid analysis of bacterial genomes, particularly for urgent outbreak investigations.