Juhong Chen

Juhong Chen serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech's College of Engineering. With research expertise spanning food safety engineering, biosensors, and bioinstrumentation, Dr. Chen develops cutting-edge technologies for pathogen detection in agricultural and food systems. His work integrates nanomaterials, bacteriophage engineering, CRISPR technology, microfluidics, and artificial intelligence to address critical food safety challenges.

Dr. Chen earned his Ph.D. in Food Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2016 and completed postdoctoral training at both Cornell University and the University of California, Berkeley before joining Virginia Tech in 2019. His educational background includes a B.Eng. in Biological Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology.

Research interests focus on developing innovative biosensing approaches to detect biological and chemical contaminants in food systems. Dr. Chen's lab specializes in creating functional antimicrobial surfaces, advanced magnetic nanosensors, engineered bacteriophages, CRISPR-Cas systems, and portable microfluidic chips. His work addresses major challenges in food safety including pathogen detection, antimicrobial resistance monitoring, and food authenticity verification.

Analysis of recent publications reveals a strong trend toward CRISPR-based diagnostics, with increasing focus on amplification-free detection methods, portable point-of-care systems, and integration of multiple technologies for enhanced sensitivity and specificity. His research spans food safety, veterinary diagnostics, and medical applications, demonstrating the broad applicability of his biosensing approaches.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Travel grant for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, Agriculture and Food Systems, Gordon Research Conference (2018)
• Outstanding contribution in reviewing the journal of Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2018)
• Withycombe-Charalambous Award for Graduate Student Symposium, Agricultural and Food Chemistry, American Chemical Society

Dr. Chen has secured significant research funding including a $450,463 USDA NIFA grant for developing CRISPR-equipped engineered phages (CREEPs), a $20,000 Virginia Tech CeZAP grant for viral pathogen detection, and a $740,537 USDA NIFA co-PI grant for digital nanofluidic chip development. He teaches courses in unit operations, biological processing, and food process engineering.

The Bioengineering and Biosensing (BeBs) Lab, led by Dr. Chen, focuses on sustainable agriculture and food systems challenges, developing innovative tools including CRISPR, phages, yeasts, and enzymes to improve food production and safety from farm to fork.