Zijun Chen

Email: ZCHEN093@e.ntu.edu.sg | Phone: +65 8451 6328

Education

Research Interests

Academic Research

🔔Ongoing

🔬 Advanced Membrane-Level Cell Segmentation

Computational Digital Pathology Lab, BII, A*STAR (Singapore) | 08/2025 – Present
This project develops a generalized membrane-level cell segmentation algorithm for multiplexed immunofluorescence imaging. Existing approaches fall into two groups: nuclear-based methods that extrapolate cell extents from nuclei (simple but shape-agnostic), and tissue-specific models that capture boundaries yet require retraining for each tissue. By leveraging membrane-bound marker fluorescence, we aim to delineate highly concave and deformable cells (e.g., amoeboid immune cells, neurons, migrating cells) and enhance downstream immunofluorescence analysis.
Nuclear Segmentation Tissue-specific Models Membrane-level Python

Background

Current cell segmentation algorithms for multiplexed immunofluorescence imaging are either generalized but shape-agnostic (nuclear-based), or accurate but narrow in scope (tissue-specific). The lack of reliable membrane-level segmentation across tissues hinders the study of complex morphologies, especially for immune cells, neurons, and migrating cells.

Current Work

  • Literature review: comprehensive survey of nuclear-based and tissue-specific methods, identifying limitations in membrane-level segmentation.
  • Algorithm design & implementation: developing a generalized membrane-driven approach that traces cell boundaries from fluorescence-bound markers.
  • Data pipeline: collection and preprocessing of multiplexed images from varied tissue sources for robust training/testing.
  • Training & validation: leveraging GPU clusters to train models on diverse datasets and validate with expert annotations.
  • Performance evaluation: benchmarking on challenging concave/flexible cell types; iterative error analysis and refinement.
  • Documentation & communication: maintaining detailed records and presenting progress to the research team.

Expected Outcomes

  • A generalizable membrane-level segmentation framework that transfers across tissues.
  • Improved analysis for structurally complex cells and enhanced downstream quantification.
  • Algorithmic contributions to computational pathology and biomedical data science.

✋ Gesture Recognition from Sensors Using Dual-path Encoding and Attention

Final Year Project | University of Birmingham | 09/2024 – 04/2025
We designed DS-CAN, a multimodal framework for MEMS-based gesture recognition. The system employs dual convolutional encoders to preserve modality-specific dynamics (accelerometer vs. gyroscope), a multi-head attention module for adaptive cross-modal fusion, and extends contrastive learning (NT-Xent) to the multimodal setting. The model attains ~94% accuracy with a lightweight footprint (3.9M parameters, 10.3 ms inference), enabling real-time deployment on wearables. 📄 A full paper (PDF) is available in the details section.
Contrastive Learning Data Fusion Multi-Head Attention MEMS-sensors Python

Background

Compared to camera-based methods, MEMS sensors offer low power and strong privacy, but robust multimodal fusion, discriminative representation learning, and lightweight deployment remain challenging.

Methodology

  • Dual-path encoding: two convolutional encoders independently model accelerometer and gyroscope streams.
  • Attention-based fusion: multi-head attention reweights cross-modal features to enhance robustness under noise/variability.
  • Multimodal contrastive learning: NT-Xent adapted to align modalities while maximizing inter-class margins.

Results

  • ~94% accuracy on public benchmarks (e.g., 6DMG, MGD).
  • Compact model (3.9M params) with 10.3 ms inference latency suitable for real-time wearables.
  • Stable performance across subjects and sensor noise conditions.

Resources

📄 Download full paper (PDF)

🔔Ongoing

👵 Creating Supportive Environments to Bridge the Digital Health Literacy for Older People

Research Advisor: Prof. CHU, Samuel K.W. | 01/2024 – Present
Health Literacy Elderly Engagement Intergenerational Learning SPSS, R

Background

Older adults often encounter socioeconomic and technological barriers to adopting digital health tools. Targeted literacy programs can improve access and outcomes, but designing sustainable, community-driven interventions remains an open problem.

Current Work

  • Surveyed multiple cities (600+ responses) to identify adoption factors and pain points.
  • Co-designed and delivered an 8-week intergenerational co-learning program with community day care centers.
  • Mixed-methods evaluation (questionnaires + interviews) to quantify confidence gains and usage behaviors.

Expected Outcomes

  • Increased digital confidence and e-health tool usage among older adults.
  • Actionable insights for scaling up community-based interventions.
  • Policy implications for inclusive digital health ecosystems.

⚙️ Physics-Informed Neural Networks with Broad Learning Systems

Research Assistant | 09/2024 – 07/2025
PINN Fuzzy Rules Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Broad Learning Python
  • Developed physics-informed neural networks integrating fuzzy rules to solve PDEs more efficiently.
  • Reviewed 156 AI-driven methodologies for Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and synthesized best practices.
  • Co-authored book chapters on Fuzzy BLS (FBLS) and Extreme FBLS (E-FBLS).

🦠 Infectious Disease Simulation with Bayesian Inference

Research Project | 08/2024 – 02/2025
Epidemiology Bayesian Inference MCMC R
  • Implemented and optimized SIR, SIS, and SEIR models with Bayesian inference in R.
  • Used Gibbs sampling and adaptive Metropolis–Hastings for parameter estimation under uncertainty.
  • Improved predictive accuracy of epidemic dynamics and scenario analysis.

📐 Machine Learning on Fano Variety in Tropical Geometry

Summer Research | University of Birmingham | 07/2024 – 08/2024
Machine Learning Geometry Quantum Data Python
  • Trained predictive models on 14,000+ samples and 28M quantum period data points of Fano varieties.
  • Applied PCA for dimensionality reduction and explored MLP/RNN/SVM baselines for property inference.
  • Analyzed cases of hypothesis deviation to inform future modeling improvements.

Internships

Honors & Awards

Technical & Language Skills

Download CV (PDF)