TSDF 台灣生技醫藥發展基金會 - EN第一屆 TBF生技講座名單

Taiwan Bio-Development Foundation Names Eight

Chairs in Biotechnology for 2014

The Taiwan Bio-Development Foundation (TBF) recently named the recipients of eight chairs worth a total of NT$200 million to be held in 2014. The chairs have been established by TBF to tap and encourage the talent of outstanding local scientists, make long-term investment in basic research and training, and promote the development of the country’s biotechnology industry.

The recipients are (in alphabetical order by Chinese surname): Dr. Jim-Min Fang, Lifetime Distinguished Professor, National Taiwan University; Dr. Chung-Yi Wu, Associate Research Fellow, Academia Sinica; Dr. Pai-Chi Li, Distinguished Professor, National Taiwan University; Dr. Sung-Jan Lin, Associate Professor, National Taiwan University, Dr. Che Alex Ma, Associate Research Fellow, Academia Sinica; Dr. Tien Hsu, Professor, National Central University; Dr. Ruey-Hwa Chen, Distinguished Research Fellow, Academia Sinica; and Dr. Tse-Hua Tan, Distinguished Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health.。

Last year, the Taiwan Bio-Development Foundation (TBF) invited domestic academic and research institutions to nominate candidates for a new series of high level biotech chairs. After a rigorous review by TBF, eight chairs have been chosen for 2014. Each chair recipient will receive NT$25 million to be awarded over a period of ten years.

The Foundation originally planned to provide six chairs in 2014, but because the large number and distinguished nature of the nominations, and because Fubon Financial and Ruentex Group took the lead in each sponsoring a chair, a total of eight elected chairs were established.

The Taiwan Bio-development Foundation was established and contributed by a group of passionate entrepreneurs, who care about the development of biopharmaceutical research and biotech industry in Taiwan. The main purpose of the TBF is the cultivation of talent in the field of biotechnology through providing training scholarships, giving grants for research projects, establishing academic chairs, organizing and sponsoring seminars and events, as well as aiding in the protection of intellectual property and technology transfer, etc. The initial focus is on the establishment of academic chairs.

The Foundation is grateful to key members of industrial sector including Ruentex Group Chairman Samuel Yin, Fubon Financial Holdings Vice Chairman Richard Tsai, Taishin Financial Holdings Chairman Thomas TL Wu, and Chairman of MicroBio William Lu for their enthusiasm for Taiwan biotech talent training, which has allowed the establishment and smooth functioning of the Foundation.

TBF Chairman Chi-Huey Wong said that cultivating talent has a critical impact on the long-term development of the country, but it is hard to see the immediate returns of the investment in a short time. The donors have admirable foresight, he added. He said he believes that the Foundation can have a major influence on the development of Taiwan’s biotech, aiding in the cultivation of talent needed both in basic research and industrial development, and in turn contributing to human health and welfare.

TBF Chair in Biotechnology

(in alphabetic order by Chinese surname)

Jim-Min Fang

Lifetime Distinguished Professor, National Taiwan University

Research interests: organic synthesis and chemical biology: new synthetic methods, asymmetric catalysis, nanotechnology, biomolecular recognition, natural products and medicinal chemistry. Current interests are the discovery and development of anti-influenza, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer drugs.

Chung-Yi Wu

Associate Research Fellow, Academia Sinica

Research Interests: Development of new methods to synthesize carbohydrates related to cancers and infectious diseases,to tackle the complex problems of post-translational glycosylation and carbohydrate-mediated recognition. The final goal is to develop carbohydrate-based therapeutics and devices, including new types of glycan array for the detection of influenza virus or cancers, and design of vaccines to tackle the problems of cancers or infectious diseases.

Pai-Chi Li

Distinguished Professor, National Taiwan University

Research interests include functional and molecular diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, biomedical ultrasound and photoacoustics, biomedical device and system development.and development of new microscopic imaging technologies for 3D cell culture systems, with the goal aiming at providing new tools and clinical values in disease diagnosis and drug development.

Sung-Jan Lin

Associate Professor, National Taiwan University

Regenerative medicine: For tissue regeneration, we have first to understand how tissues maintain homeostasis, how they are damaged and how they attempt to repair and/or regenerate in response to insults, and based on what we learn, develop better ways to preserve tissue functions and to regenerate functional organs. We use skin and hair follicles as our main target organs to understand the cellular and regulatory mechanisms of skin and hair follicles in physiological and pathological conditions. Our ultimate goal is to develop a combinatorial strategy by integrating engineering techniques and biological principles to mitigate tissue damage and enhance skin/hair follicle regeneration.

Che Alex Ma

Associate Research Fellow, Academia Sinica

The main research focus is to study the structure and function of human-disease related membrane proteins, aiming to apply the obtained knowledge in drug discovery, including topics in drug-resistant bacterial infection, influenza vaccines and cancers.

Tien Hsu

Professor, National Central University

The major research interest is to understand the origin of cancer and the mechanism of its growth, with focus on thr role of stromal cells to promote inflammation and aupport stem cell survival. Current research is focused on stromal biology, characterizing the function and therapeutic potential of the tumor microenvironment, in collaboration with an international team of experts in cancer and in tissue inflammation and fibrosis.

Ruey-Hwa Chen

Distinguished Research Fellow, Academia Sinica

Cancer cell signaling: investigation of protein post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation and ubiquitination, in controlling malignant characters and therapeutic responses of tumors, and identification of important tumor markers for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.

Tse-Hua Tan

Distinguished Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health

Understanding the functions and regulation of JNK-MAPK protein kinases and phosphatases in lymphocyte signal transduction and immune-mediated diseases using biochemical and knockout mouse approaches, the important roles and regulation of JNK in apoptosis signaling pathways, particularly MAP4K family kinases (HPK1/MAP4K1, GLK/MAP4K3, HGK/MAP4K4) and protein phosphatases (JKAP/DUSP22, PP4) that regulate the JNK-MAPK cascade. Current research is focused on studying the roles of JNK-MAPK kinases and phosphatases in lymphocyte signaling, immune regulation, cancer, and inflammation-induced human diseases, particularly diabetes and obesity.

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