Paul Chen graduated with his undergraduate degree in nanotechnology engineering (NE) in 2016. He went on to complete his PhD. His research focused on studying how atoms move to form metal nanoparticles for use in biomedical applications. When the pandemic struck in 2020 Chen pivoted his research to aid in the global race to investigate how the COVID-19 virus transmits.
Paul Chen. Photo by Tyler Irving.
His team investigated aspects of the transmission of COVID-19 including being able to model that the virus spreads through aerosol transmission.
His groundbreaking research caught the attention of people at The Schmidt Science Fellows. This prestigious scientific Fellowship is part of a philanthropic initiative launched by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Wendy Schmidt who also co-founded Schmidt Future. The Schmidt Science Fellows provides postdoctoral candidates with an annual stipend of $100,000 to pursue their research for up to two years. In 2022 Chen became a Schmidt Science Fellow.
Below, Paul describes in his own words his experience as a Schmidt Science Fellow and reflects on his journey as a nanotechnology engineering undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo.
What work are you currently undertaking as a Schmidt Science Fellow?
While recent technologies (e.g., CRISPR) enable precise editing of genomes—the individually unique DNA of living beings, we lack the capability to deliver these technologies to specific sites in the body. As such, we currently cannot apply genome editing for a broad range of human therapeutic purposes.
In the labs of Professor David R. Liu at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard and Professor Robert S. Langer at MIT, my research aims to develop new nanoparticles to functionally deliver genome editing technologies in vivo. I hope that my work will help enable new therapies for genetic diseases.
As a high school student what were your interests that led you to choose NE as your undergrad program?
As a high school student, I was still quite unsure about what I wanted in my career. I did, however, know that I loved building. In nanotechnology engineering, I saw a path in which atoms and molecules could be my building blocks. This idea captivated me, and I enrolled in NE to explore engineering matter at its smallest functional scale, hopefully towards developing materials that could help people.
What were your undergrad co-op positions? How did these co-op positions influence your learning and your decision to pursue a graduate degree?
For my first co-op, I was a research assistant at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. My remaining coops were in Professor Frank Gu’s lab, where I was also a research assistant. Although I originally planned for co-op experiences outside of academia or research, these co-op positions helped me learn that I loved working at the edge of human knowledge and exploring new ideas that could potentially help people. So, while unexpected, I decided to continue academic research throughout my undergraduate journey and then into graduate school.
What life lessons did you learn in your undergrad program?
Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo is quite a unique undergraduate program. Nano as a field focuses on matter and phenomena at a particular size range (the nanoscale), and thus inherently spans the traditional disciplines, like biology, chemistry, materials science, physics, and more. As such, the NE program educates its students broadly and touches on foundational aspects of many fields.
During undergrad, I learned how different fields think, and the program’s breadth has given me the background to begin to explore the space between disciplines. I was also fortunate enough to build friendships with other students, instructors, and program staff that continue to this day.
How did your overall experience in the NE program at Waterloo influence your career and educational path?
Both study and work parts of my undergraduate experience in the NE program allowed for me to conduct research and, even as a young undergraduate student, lead research projects.
These accelerated my exploration of career interests and led to surprises! In high school, I didn’t particularly enjoy classes involving biology; my limited experience of biology at that time was of rote learning towards some multiple-choice exam. During my first coop, however, I saw why biology and engineering were so interesting and impactful: they could expand our understanding of human diseases and then develop approaches to address them. I was hooked and found myself further pursuing research with the ultimate goal of advancing both science and society.
Moving forward, I plan to continue building upon the broad foundation that the NE program helped me lay and hope to discover materials that can improve health for people around the world.