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  8. Minjun Chen
  1. Science & Research (NCTR)

Minjun Chen Ph.D.

Senior Staff Fellow — Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics

Minjun Chen
Minjun Chen, Ph.D.
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov  

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 About  |  Publications  |  Lab Members

Background

Dr. Minjun Chen received a Ph.D. degree from Zhejiang University, China. He worked as an assistant professor at the School of Pharmacy at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China before being promoted to associate professor. In November 2006, Dr. Chen began working at FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) as a postdoctoral fellow jointly with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He was promoted to an FDA staff fellow in the Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics in 2008 and currently serves as a senior staff fellow in the division.

During his research career, Dr. Chen has been the author or co-author of over 130 peer-reviewed research articles or book chapters. His work has been cited 6,171 times with an H-index of 40 based on the Google Scholar search as of March 14, 2024. He received the FDA award for “Outstanding Junior Investigator” in 2012, the NCTR “Scientific Achievement Award” in 2014, and the FDA "Scientific Achievement Award for Excellence in Analytical Science" in 2017. He established and currently co-chairs the FDA Liver Toxicity Working Group (LTWG), which is officially endorsed by the Office of the Chief Scientist, with 60 FDA scientists working to gather drug-induced liver injury (DILI) data within FDA. Dr. Chen is the editor of a book titled “Drug-Induced Liver Injury,” with 92 contributing scientists from the United States and the European Union, published by Humana Press, Springer in 2018.

 

Research Interests

Dr. Chen's primary research interests encompass bioinformatics, drug safety, biomarker discovery, and toxicogenomics. His current research focus is in two areas:

  • Development of the Liver Toxicity Knowledge Base to address the concerns from public health and regulatory agencies related to liver toxicity caused by drugs and herbal dietary supplements

  • Identification of biomarkers for predicting the outcome of chemotherapy of breast-cancer patients in support of precision medicine

 

Professional Societies/National and International Groups

Mid-South Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Society
Member
2008 – Present

Society of Toxicology
Member
2008 – Present

Society of Toxicology — Council of Computational Toxicological Special Section
President
2023 – 2024
Councilor
2018 – 2021
Member
2018 – Present

 

Select Publications

Drug Interaction with UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) Enzymes is a Predictor of Drug-Induced Liver Injury.
Olubamiwa A.O., Liao T.J., Zhao J., Dehanne P., Noban C., Angin Y., Barberan O., and Chen M. 
Hepatology. 2025, pp.10-1097.

Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals Genetic Variants in HLA Class II Genes Associated with Transplant-free Survival of Indeterminate Acute Liver Failure.
Liao T.J., Pan B., Hong H., Hayashi P., Rule J.A., Ganger D., Lee W.M., Rakela J., and Chen M. 
Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2022, 13(7): e00502.

BERT-Based Natural Language Processing of Drug Labeling Documents: A Case Study for Classifying Drug-Induced Liver Injury Risk.
Wu Y., Liu Z., Wu L., Chen M., and Tong W.
Front Artif Intell. 2021, 4:729834.

Elevated Bilirubin, Alkaline Phosphatase at Onset, and Drug Metabolism are Associated with Prolonged Recovery from DILI.
Ashby K., Zhuang W., González-Jimenez A., Alvarez-Alvarez I., Lucena M.I., Andrade R., Aithal G., Suzuki A., and Chen M.
J Hepatol. 2021.

The Landscape of Hepatobiliary Adverse Reactions Across 53 Herbal and Dietary Supplements Reveals Immune-Mediated Injury as a Common Cause of Hepatitis.
Zhu J., Chen M., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Arch Toxicol. 2020, 94 (1), 273-293.

Cancer Genomics Predicts Disease Relapse and Therapeutic Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy of Hormone Sensitive Breast Cancers.
Zhu J., Muskhelishvili L., Tong W., Borlak J., and Chen M.
Sci Rep. 2020, 10 (1), 1-12.

The Development of a Database for Herbal and Dietary Supplement Induced Liver Toxicity.
Zhu J., Seo J.E., Wang S., Ashby K., Ballard R., Yu D., Ning B., Agarwal R., Borlak J., Tong W., and Chen M. 
Int J Mol Sci. 2019, 19 (10), 2955.

Drug-Induced Liver Toxicity.
Chen M. and Will Y.
Humana Press. 2018.

Therapeutic Bile Acids and the Risks for Hepatotoxicity.
Ashby K., Navarro Almario E.E., Tong W., Borlak J., Mehta R., and Chen M.
Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2018.

Direct-Acting Antivirals for Chronic Hepatitis C: Can Drug Properties Signal Potential for Liver Injury?
Mishra P. and Chen M.
Gastroenterology. 2017, 152 (6): 1270-1274.

A Model to Predict Severity of Drug-Induced Liver Injury in Humans.
Chen M., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Hepatology. 2016, 64(3):931-40. 

DILIrank: The Largest Reference Drug List Ranked by the Risk for Developing Drug-Induced Liver Injury in Humans.
Chen M., Suzuki A., Thakkar S., Yu K., Hu C., and Tong W.
Drug Discov Today. 2016, 21(4):648-53. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2016.02.015. Epub 2016 Mar 3.

Drug-Induced Liver Injury: Interactions Between Drug Properties and Host Factors.
Chen M., Suzuki A., Borlak J., Andrade R.J., and Lucena M.I.
J Hepatol. 2015, 63(2):503-14.

A Testing Strategy to Predict Risk for Drug-Induced Liver Injury in Humans Using High-Content Screen Assays and the 'Rule-of-Two' Model.
Chen M., Tung C.W., Shi Q., Guo L., Shi L., Fang H., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Arch Toxicol. 2014, 88(7):1439-49.

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Models for Predicting Drug-Induced Liver Injury Based on FDA-Approved Drug Labeling Annotation and Using a Large Collection of Drugs.
Chen M., Hong H., Fang H., Kelly R., Zhou G., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Toxicol Sci. 2013, 136(1):242-9.

High Lipophilicity and High Daily Dose of Oral Medications Are Associated with Significant Risk for Drug-Induced Liver Injury.
Chen M., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Hepatology. 2013, 58(1):388-96.

The Liver Toxicity Knowledge Base: A Systems Approach to a Complex End Point.
Chen M., Zhang J., Wang Y., Liu Z., Kelly R., Zhou G., Fang H., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2013, 93(5):409-12.

A Decade of Toxicogenomic Research and Its Contribution to Toxicological Science.
Chen M., Zhang M., Borlak J., and Tong W.
Toxicol Sci. 2012, 130(2):217-28.

FDA-Approved Drug Labeling for the Study of Drug-Induced Liver Injury.
Chen M., Vijay V., Shi Q., Liu Z., Fang H., and Tong W.
Drug Discov Today. 2011, 16(15-16):697-703.


Lab Members

Contact information for all lab members:
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov

Kristin Ashby, Ph.D.
Former Ph.D. Candidate

Tsung-Jen Liao, Ph.D.
TSIF fellow (co-mentored with NCATS)

Jingyi Ma, Ph.D.
ORISE fellow (co-mentored with CDER)

AyoOluwa Olubamiwa, Ph.D.
ORISE Fellow 

Mohammad Sujaur Rahman 
Ph.D. Candidate

Yue Wu, Ph.D.
Former ORISE Fellow

Jieqiang Zhu, Ph.D.
Former ORISE Fellow

Contact Information
Minjun Chen
(870) 543-7121
Expertise
Expertise
Approach
Domain
Technology & Discipline
Toxicology
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