Jack Xiaoyu Chen

Aureka Biotechnologies, Inc.

Irvine, CA

I believe the future of science lies in the co-evolution of synthetic biology and AI. My work focuses on tackling one of the field’s central challenges – data scarcity – by developing next-generation synthetic biology tools that integrate with machine learning. This dual approach enables us not only to answer fundamental biological questions, but also to accelerate translation into real therapies, diagnostics, and engineered living systems.

Currently, I am Director of Molecular Processing and Automation at Aureka Biotechnologies, where I lead the design, optimization, and automation of molecular workflows for high-throughput antibody and protein engineering.

Trained in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering (PhD, University of Oxford; Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT Collins Lab), I specialize in RNA therapeutics, synthetic cells, and AI-driven molecular design. I also held fellowships at Flagship Pioneering and ByteDance (VoyagerX). My earlier education includes an MRes in Synthetic and Systems Biology from Imperial College London and a BSc in Biotechnology from UCL.

news

Jan 15, 2026	Joined Aureka Biotechnologies as Director of Molecular Processing and Automation, leading high-throughput antibody and protein engineering workflows in Irvine, CA.
Jul 01, 2025	Joined MEDNA Scientific as Synthetic Biology & AI Lead Scientist, driving AI-guided strategies for protein design and manufacturing.
Jun 01, 2023	Selected as a Flagship Pioneering Venture Fellow, exploring the frontiers of bioplatform innovation.
Oct 01, 2021	Joined MIT Collins Lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher, working on minicells, RNA therapeutics, and AI-driven molecular design.
Oct 15, 2020	Selected as one of 100 Leaders of Tomorrow at the Gap Summit 2020 biotech conference in Cambridge, UK.

latest posts

Jan 01, 2025	Welcome

selected publications

bioRxiv

OriGene: A Self-Evolving Virtual Disease Biologist Automating Therapeutic Target Discovery

Z. Zhang, Z. Qiu, Y. Wu, and 9 more authors

bioRxiv, 2025

DOI Bib

@article{zhang2025origene,
  title = {OriGene: A Self-Evolving Virtual Disease Biologist Automating Therapeutic Target Discovery},
  author = {Zhang, Z. and Qiu, Z. and Wu, Y. and Li, S. and Wang, D. and Zhou, Z. and An, D. and Chen, Y. and Li, Y. and Wang, Y. and Chen, J.X. and others},
  journal = {bioRxiv},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1101/2025.06.03.657658},
}

arXiv

ODesign: A World Model for Biomolecular Interaction Design

O. Zhang, X. Zhang, H. Lin, and 8 more authors

arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.22304, 2025

Bib

@article{zhang2025odesign,
  title = {ODesign: A World Model for Biomolecular Interaction Design},
  author = {Zhang, O. and Zhang, X. and Lin, H. and Tan, C. and Wang, Q. and Mo, Y. and Feng, Q. and Du, G. and Yu, Y. and Chen, J.X. and others},
  journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.22304},
  year = {2025},
}

Nat. Comput. Sci.

Deep generative design of RNA aptamers using structural predictions

F. Wong, D. He, A. Krishnan, and 8 more authors

Nature Computational Science, 2024

DOI Bib

@article{wong2024rna,
  title = {Deep generative design of RNA aptamers using structural predictions},
  author = {Wong, F. and He, D. and Krishnan, A. and Hong, L. and Wang, A.Z. and Wang, J. and Hu, Z. and Omori, S. and Li, A. and Chen, J.X. and others},
  journal = {Nature Computational Science},
  volume = {4},
  number = {11},
  pages = {829--839},
  year = {2024},
  doi = {10.1038/s43588-024-00720-6},
}

Nat. Commun.

Autocatalytic base editing for RNA-responsive translational control

R.V. Gayet, K. Ilia, S. Razavi, and 5 more authors

Nature Communications, 2023

DOI Bib

@article{gayet2023autocatalytic,
  title = {Autocatalytic base editing for RNA-responsive translational control},
  author = {Gayet, R.V. and Ilia, K. and Razavi, S. and Tippens, N.D. and Lalwani, M.A. and Zhang, K. and Chen, J.X. and others},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  volume = {14},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1339},
  year = {2023},
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-023-36851-z},
}