Yi-Chung Tung, Ph.D. 董奕鍾 博士
Research Fellow
Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica
中央研究院應用科學研究中心 研究員
Email: tungy@gate.sinica.edu.tw
When Microfluidics Meets Cell Biology
Cells are the fundamental building blocks of biological systems, capable of sensing and responding to external stimuli and changes in their microenvironment. To systematically investigate cellular behavior under controlled conditions, in vitro cell culture models have been broadly adopted. However, conventional culture platforms often lack the ability to accurately recapitulate the complexity of in vivo physiological environments, resulting in limited predictive power and insufficient mechanistic insights. These limitations stem from the inherent challenges in replicating the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of tissue microenvironments and achieving quantitative cellular analyses. In recent decades, microfluidic technologies have emerged as powerful tools to overcome these challenges and advance cell biology research. In this talk, I will present a series of microfluidic platforms developed in my laboratory, focusing on two main topics: (1) microfluidic cell culture systems designed to precisely manipulate the cellular microenvironment, and (2) microfluidic cell analysis devices for performing single-cell analysis.
Position
2018-present Research Fellow, Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Education
2006-2009 Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2000-2005 Ph.D. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
1996-1998 M.S. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
1992-1996 B.S. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Research Experience
2017–2019 Postdoctoral Fellow (JSPS Fellowship), Waseda University & RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan
2016–2017 Postdoctoral Fellow, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Japan
2015–2016 Postdoctoral Fellow, RIKEN (Taiwan MOST Fellowship)
2013–2015 Postdoctoral Fellow, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Expertise
Microenvironment Manipulation for in vitro Cell Culture to Study Cell Biomechanics; Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine; Microfluidics; Biomedical Instruments.
Selected Publications
Y.-H. Liu, M.-T. Chung, H.-C. Lin, T.-A. Lee, Y.-J. Cheng, C.-C. Huang, H.-M. Wu*, and Y.-C. Tung*, “Shaping Early Neural Development by Timed Elevated Tissue Oxygen Tension: Insights from Multiomic Analysis on Human Cerebral Organoids,” Science Advances, Vol. 11, ado1164, March 2025.
H.-H. Hsu, P.-L. Ko, C.-C. Peng, Y.-J. Cheng, H.-M. Wu, and Y.-C. Tung*, “Studying Sprouting Angiogenesis under Combination of Oxygen Gradients and Co-Culture of Fibroblasts Using Microfluidic Cell Culture Model,” Materials Today Bio, Vol. 21, 100703, August 2023.
P.-L. Ko, C.-K. Wang, H.-H. Hsu, T.-A. Lee, and Y.-C. Tung*, “Revealing Anisotropic Elasticity of Endothelium under Fluid Shear Stress,” Acta Biomaterialia, Vol. 145, pp. 316-328, June 2022.
H.-H. Hsu, P.-L. Ko, H.-M. Wu, H.-C. Line, C.-K. Wang, and Y.-C. Tung*, “Study Formation of Three-Dimensional Endothelial Cell Network under Various Oxygen Microenvironment and Hydrogel Composition Combinations Using Upside-Down Microfluidic Device,” Small, Vol. 17, Issue 15, 2006091, April 2021.
Biosketch
Dr. Yi-Chung Tung is a Research Fellow at the Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica, where he has been conducting interdisciplinary biomedical research since 2009. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2006–2009), where he also earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2005. His contributions have been widely recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the 2020–2022 Scientist with Top 2% Single Year Impact, the 2018 Project for Excellent Junior Research Investigators (Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan), the 2016 Career Development Award (Academia Sinica), and the 2014 Ta-You Wu Memorial Award (Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan). He was also named a Top 10% Highly Cited Author in the Analytical Portfolio of Royal Society of Chemistry Journals in 2016. His research focuses on microfluidic cell culture and analysis, biomedical instrumentation, and advanced micro/nano-fabrication techniques, driving innovations in biomedical technology.