Yu-Chun (Frank) Lin Ph.D. 林玉俊
Professor 教授
Institute of Molecular Medicine 分子醫學所
National Tsing Hua University 國立清華大學
Address: 101, Section 2 Kuang Fu Road, Hsinchu, Taiwan (R.O.C)
Life Science Building I, Room 606
300044 新竹市光復路二段101號清華大學生科一館613室
E-mail: ycl@life.nthu.edu.tw
Office: Life Science Building I, Room 613 生科二館613室
Tel: (03)57-42421 or 校內分機42421
Lab: Life Science Building I, Room 606 生科一館606室
Tel: (03)57-42689 or 校內分機42689
Education and Employment
2023.Aug ~ Present
Professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Tsing Hua University
2019.Aug ~ 2023.Jul
Associate Professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Tsing Hua University
2020. Feb ~ Present
Honorary Professor, Mathematical Sciences, University of Liverpool
2015.Feb ~ 2019.Jul
Assistant Professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Tsing Hua University
2011.Aug ~ 2015.Jan
Research Fellow, Department of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2009.Jul ~ 2011.Aug
Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Taiwan University
2008.Aug ~ 2009.Jun
Military Service
2004.Aug ~ 2008.Jul
Ph.D., Department of Life Science, Tunghai University
2003.Aug ~ 2004.Jul
Master degree student, Department of Life Science, Tunghai University
1999.Aug ~ 2003.Jul
Undergraduate Student, Department of Biology, Tunghai University
Awards
2023
-
Potential Research Grant, National Tsing Hua University
(清大潛力型研究補助)
-
Spark Grant, National Tsing Hua University
(清大火種計畫補助)
-
Outstanding Research Award, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, National Tsing Hua University
(清大生科院傑出研究獎)
-
NSTC Grant for International Outstanding Researcher
(國際年輕傑出學者計畫;國科會)
-
Salary Bonus for the Recruitment and Retention of Oustanding Faculty and Research Staff, NTHU
(清大延攬及留用特殊優秀人才獎勵補助)
2022
-
Outstanding Teaching Award, College of Life Sciences and Medicine, National Tsing Hua University
(清大生科院院傑出教學獎)
-
Potential Research Grant, NTHU
(清大潛力型研究補助)
-
Salary Bonus for the Recruitment and Retention of Oustanding Faculty and Research Staff, NTHU
(清大延攬及留用特殊優秀人才獎勵補助)
-
Monitoring the College Student Research Creativity Award
(指導大專生計畫創作獎)
2021
-
Outstanding Scholar Award, Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship
(年輕學者創新獎;傑出人才發展基金會)
-
Outstanding Alumni Award, National Miaoli Senior High School
(苗栗高中傑出校友)
-
Outstanding Teaching Award, National Tsing Hua University
(清大校級傑出教學獎)
-
2021 Salary Bonus for the Recruitment and Retention of Oustanding Faculty and Research Staff, NTHU
(清大延攬及留用特殊優秀人才獎勵補助)
2020
-
Outstanding teaching award, College of Life Science, NTHU
(清大生科院教學優良教師)
-
58th Ten Outstanding Persons
(第58屆十大傑出青年)
-
Outstanding publication award, College of Life Science, NTHU
(清大生科院傑出論文獎)
-
2020 Salary Bonus for the Recruitment and Retention of Oustanding Faculty and Research Staff, NTHU
(清大延攬及留用特殊優秀人才獎勵補助)
2019
-
MOST Young Scholar Fellowship
(科技部年輕學者獎)
-
MOST Columbus Project
(科技部哥倫布計畫補助)
-
2019 Salary Bonus for the Recruitment and Retention of Outstanding Faculty and Research Staff, NTHU
(清大延攬及留用特殊優秀人才獎勵補助)
2018
-
Outstanding research award for junior faculty, NTHU
(清大校級新進人員研究獎)
-
TienTe Lee Award
(第14屆永信李天德青年醫藥科技獎)
-
MOST grant for Excellent Junior Research Investigators
(科技部優秀青年計畫補助)
-
2018 Salary Bonus for the Recruitment and Retention of Outstanding Faculty and Research Staff, NTHU
(清大延攬及留用特殊優秀人才獎勵補助)
-
Potential Research grant, NTHU
(清大潛力型研究補助)
-
Outstanding research award for junior faculty, College of Life Science, NTHU
(清大生科院新進人員傑出研究獎)
-
Outstanding teaching award, College of Life Science, NTHU
(清大生科院傑出教學獎)
2017
Outstanding teaching award, NTHU (清大校傑出教學獎)
2016
Cash reward for outstanding teaching, College of Life Science, NTHU (清大生科院教學績優獎勵)
2016-2019
MOST grant for the cultivation of outstanding young scholars (科技部傑出學者養成計畫補助)
2016
2016 MOST special outstanding talent award (科技部延攬特殊優秀人才補助)
2015
2015 MOST special outstanding talent award (科技部延攬特殊優秀人才補助)
2013
Travel Award for American Society of Cell Biology 50th Annual Meeting, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2012-2014
Postdoctoral fellowship for research abroad, National Science Council (國科會補助博士後出國研究獎學金兩年期)
2008
The 3rd NTU-Kyoto U student Mini-Symposium on Molecular and Cell Biology, 1st prize of the poster design and presentation (Kyoto, Japan)
The 16th Symposium on Recent Advances in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Excellent Poster Award
2007
Chinese Society of Cell and Molecular Biology, Research Assistant, Graduate Student and Postdocs Traveling
2006
The Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society of the Republic of China
Membership
2004 ~ Present
Member, American Society for Cell Biology
2005 ~ Present
Member, The Chinese Society of Cell and Molecular Biology
2005 ~ Present
Member, The Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society of the Republic of China
2018 ~ Present
Member, TienTe Lee Biomedical Foundation
Patent
TW I720319, 林玉俊、葉秩光：超音波感應蛋白質以及利用超音波刺激細胞的方法
Invited reviewers
1. Nature Communications
2. Communications Biology
3. Brain Stimulation
4. International Journal of Medical Sciences
5. Life Science
6. BMC Biology
7. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
8. Developmental Cell
9. Advanced Science
10. iScience
11.Human Molecular Genetics
Invited talk (2015~present)
92. Mar, 2024: Yu-Chun lin. Precise control of microtubule structure and intracellular trafficking. NPAS Mini-Symposium on Neurobiology. Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (Invited speaker)
91. Oct, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin. Precise control of microtubule structure, tubulin post-translational modifications, and intracellular trafficking. 2023 Mini-symposium of membrane remodeling and trafficking. NTU, Taipei, Taiwan (Invited speaker)
90. Oct, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin. Precisely Controlling Cells for Basic Research and Potential Therapeutic Applications. 2023 Chang Gung Medical Week. Taoyuan, Taiwan 2023 長庚醫學週-醫學研究論壇 (Invited speaker)
89. Sep, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin. New tools to study how microtubules regulate cells. The 7th Transdisciplinary Workshops of Chemistry, Life Science, and Physics. Taichung, Taiwan 第七屆化學,生科,物理跨領域交流會 (Invited speaker)
88. Aug, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin. Precisely Controlling Cells for Basic Research and Potential Therapeutic Applications. Kaohsiung Ghang Gung Memorial Hospital (Invited Speaker).
87. Jun, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin. Monitoring Acute Cellular Events through Live-Cell Imaging. Nikon Seminar. (Invited speaker)
86. Apr, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin. Precise control of cellular structures and activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. NTHU (Invited speaker)
85. Mar, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: Using ultrasound to non-invasively activate neurons and ameliorate neurodegenerative diseases. Symposium of Sensory and Circadian Biology, NHRI (Invited speaker).
84. Jan, 2023: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise control of microtubule structure, tubulin post-translational modifications, and vesicular trafficking. NCKU (Invited speaker).
83. Dec, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, 利用化學小分子、光、超音波、磁場控制細胞及可能醫療應用. NTHU HBA (國立清華大學健康政策與經營管理專班)
82. Nov, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, 超音波遺傳學：用聲音控制細胞. Tainan First Senior high school (台南一中). Tainan.
81. Nov, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise control of microtubule disassembly in living cells. 2022 ICCB & APOCB Joint Meeting. Taipei (Invited speaker).
80. Oct, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, How to prepare a research proposal. NTHU Life Science College (Invited speaker)
79. Sep, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: Using ultrasound to non-invasively activate neurons and ameliorate neurodegenerative diseases. 2022 Tang Prize Ceremony (唐獎頒獎典禮)(Invited speaker).
78. Jul, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, 合成生物學：iGEM介紹及生技應用.清大高中生科營(Invited speaker).
77. Mar, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise control of cellular architectures and activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital (台北慈濟醫院). Online (Invited speaker).
76. Mar, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise Control of Microtubule Disassembly and Post-Translational Modifications in Living Cells. 2022 The 36th Joint Annual Conference of Biomedical Science (第36屆生醫年會). Taipei, Taiwan. (Invited speaker).
75. Mar, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise Control of Microtubule Disassembly and Post-Translational Modifications in Living Cells. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore. (新加坡大學生物科學系). Online. (Invited speaker).
74. Mar, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise Control of Microtubule Disassembly and Post-Translational Modifications in Living Cells. Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology. National Taiwan University. (台大分生所). Taipei, Taiwan. (Invited speaker).
73. Feb, 2022: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise Control of Microtubule Disassembly and Post-Translational Modifications in Living Cells. Institute of Biomedical Sciences. Academia Sinica. (中研院生醫所). Taipei, Taiwan. (Invited speaker).
72. Dec, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: using ultrasound to non-invasively activate neurons and ameliorate neurodegenerative diseases. The 3rd Japan-Taiwan Symposium on Psychological and Physiological Acoustics Jointly held with ASJ Auditory Research Meeting (日本-台灣研究交流-聽覺研討會). Online (Keynote speaker).
71. Nov, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: using ultrasound to non-invasively activate neurons and ameliorate neurodegenerative diseases. National Taiwan University College of Medicine. (台大醫學院). Taipei (Invited speaker).
70. Sep, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise control of microtubule disassembly and post-translational modifications in living cells. International Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration. National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan (Invited speaker).
69. Aug, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Precise control of microtubule disassembly in living cells. 2021 POSTECH-NTHU conference. (Invited speaker)
68. May, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Precisely controlling cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. National Taiwan University College of Medicine. (台大醫學院). Taipei (Invited speaker).
67. May, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, 生命科學的未來：合成生物學. 高中生科培營. National Tsing Hua University. HsinChu (Invited lecturer).
65. Mar, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Precisely controlling cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University (清大醫環系). HsinChu (Invited speaker)
64. Feb, 2021: Yu-Chun Lin, Precisely controlling cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Department of Life Science, National Taiwan University (台大生科系). Taipei (invited speaker)
63. Dec, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital (花蓮慈濟醫院). Hualien (invited speaker)
62. Nov, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities via an engineered auditory-sensing protein. GCBME & TSBME 2020, Chang Yung-Fa Foundation International Convention Center, Taipei City (Invited speaker).
61. Oct, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities via an engineered auditory-sensing protein. 2020 The Taiwan Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Autumn Camp, NanYuan Farm, Tainan City (Invited speaker).
60. Oct, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. National Institute of Cancer Research, National Health Research Institutes (Invited speaker).
59. Sep, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities via an engineered auditory-sensing protein. TSfn 2020 Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Congress, Academia Sinica (Invited speaker).
58. Aug, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, 年輕學者養成計畫心得分享. 2020 36th Biology Retreat. Aspire Resort, Taoyuan. (Invited speaker)
57. Aug, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating tubulin post-translational modifications in living cells. (Invited speaker) The Centriole-Centrosome-Cilium meeting in Health and Disease. IBMS, Academia Sinica.
56. Aug, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. (Invited speaker) NPAS (Neuroscience Program of Academia Sinica) Seminar at Academia Sinica.
55. Jun, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: Using sounds to control cells! 2020 NTHUxNTUH台清好聲音研討會 (Invited speaker).
54. Jun, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, 利用超音波無創治療神經退化疾病. 新竹榮民之家.
53. May, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: Using sounds to control cells! YSFxWorld 2020, Taipei, Taiwan.
52. Apr, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Department of Biotechnology and Bioindustry Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan (Invited speaker).
51. Mar, 2020: Yu-Chun Lin, 活細胞影像遺傳學：即時觀測及精準控制不同細胞生理活性. Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (Invited speaker).
50. Nov, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Using chemical biology approaches to visualize the diffusion barriers in living cells. Department of mathematical science, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (Invited speaker).
49. Nov, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities using an engineered auditory-sensing protein. 2019 9th Bilateral Symposium at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom (Invited speaker).
48. Aug, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, 年輕學者養成計畫心得分享. 2019 35th Biology Retreat. The Great Roots Forestry Spa Resort, Sanxia (Invited speaker).
47. Aug, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities using an engineered auditory-sensing protein. IBC, Academia Sinica. (Invited speaker)
46. Jun, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities using an engineered auditory-sensing protein. 2019 Mini-Symposium for Cell membranes and Trafficking Disorders. National Taiwan University. (Invited speaker)
45. Jun, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. NTU Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine. National Taiwan University. (Invited speaker)
44. Jun, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. International Center for Wound Repair and Regeneration. National Cheng Kung University. (Invited speaker)
43. May, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. College of Life Science, National Tsing Hua University. (Invited speaker)
42. May, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities using an engineered auditory-sensing protein. 2019 Advances in Biophysics and Beyond, National Tsing Hua University. (Invited speaker)
41. Apr, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Graduate Institute of Biochemistry, National Chung Hsing University (Invited speaker).
40. Apr, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, 生命科學的未來：合成生物學. 高中科培營 (Invited speaker).
39. Mar, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities via an engineered auditory sensing protein, 2019 Bilateral Biotechnology & Next Generation Medicine Symposium. IBT, VNU, Hanoi, Vietnam.
38. Mar, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities via an engineered auditory sensing protein, Vietnam Academic Science of Technology (IBT), Vietnam.
37. Mar, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities via an engineered auditory sensing protein, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong (Invited speaker).
36. Mar, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University (Invited speaker).
35. Jan, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Using live-cell imaging to real-time monitor cellular activities. nMACS workshop, National Ting Hua University (Invited speaker)
34. Jan, 2019: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica (Invited speaker)
33. Nov, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities using an engineered auditory-sensing protein. NTHU-Liverpool U Joint Research Conference (Invited speaker)
32. Nov, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetic modulation of cellular activities using an engineered auditory-sensing protein. 2018 NHRI-NTHU Joint Research Conference (Invited speaker)
31. Nov, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. National Health Research Institutes. (Invited speaker)
30. Jun, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. National Taiwan University, School of Medicine. (Invited speaker)
29. Jun, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. Chang Gung University. (Invited Speaker)
28. Jun, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. IAM, Academia Sinica. (Invited Speaker)
27. May, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally decoding the tubulin code in living cells. Mini-symposium on membrane trafficking and remodeling. National Taiwan University. (Invited Speaker)
26. May, 2018: Yu-Chun Lin, Sonogenetics: Identification of an ultrasound-sensing protein for neuromodulation. 23rd Biophysics conference in Taiwan. National Chung Hsing University. (Invited Speaker)
25. Nov, 2017: Yu-Chun Lin. Spatiotemporally decoding the tubulin codes in living cells. 2017 The Taiwan Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Autumn Camp, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung. (Invited Speaker)
24. Aug, 2017: Yu-Chun Lin. Spatiotemporally decoding tubulin code in living cells. IBMS, Academia Sinica. (Invited Speaker)
23. Jul, 2017: Yu-Chun Lin 生命科學的未來：合成生物學 (清大生科營)
22. May, 2017: Yu-Chun Lin Sonogenetics: Manipulating cellular activities by ultrasound. I3 regular seminar at NTHU. (Invited Speaker)
21. Apr, 2017: Yu-Chun Lin, 生科院紫荊季演講
20. Jan, 2017: Yu-Chun Lin, 生命科學的未來：合成生物學 (高中教師清華營)
19. Nov, 2016: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulating cellular activities by chemicals, light or ultrasound. Microscopy: Not just imaging. NHRI (Invited Speaker)
18. Oct, 2016: Yu-Chun Lin, 生命科學的未來：合成生物學 (生科院高中生生科資優生課程)
17. Sep, 2016: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally manipulate cellular activities by chemicals, light, and ultrasound. NTHU-OSAKA U joint conference. (Invited Speaker)
16. Sep, 2016: Yu-Chun Lin, Using ultrasound to rapidly manipulate cellular activities. The 13th Taiwan International Symposium on statistical physical and complex systems. (Invited speaker)
15. Aug, 2016: Yu-Chun Lin, Spatiotemporally decoding the tubulin codes inside primary cilia. National Cheng Kung University. (Invited Speaker)
14. May, 2016: Visualizing and manipulating molecular composition and activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. National Ying Ming University. (Invited Speaker)
13. Apr, 2016: Yu-Chun Lin, 生科院紫荊季演講 Jan, 2016 生命科學的未來：合成生物學 (高中教師清華營)
12. Nov, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Rapidly rewriting the tubulin codes inside primary cilia. NTHU-NHRI joint conference. (Invited Speaker)
11. Nov, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Visualizing the manipulating molecular composition and activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. IBC, Academia Sinica. (Invited Speaker)
10, Oct, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Rapidly rewriting the tubulin codes inside primary cilia. International Conference on Stem cells and Developmental biology. Academia Sinica. (Invited Speaker)
9. Sep, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Visualizing and manipulating molecular composition and activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. IBMS, Academia Sinica. (Invited Speaker)
8. Aug, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Using advanced techniques to manipulate cellular composition and activities. Chang Gung University. (Invited Speaker)
7. Aug, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Visualizing and manipulating molecular composition and activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. National Taiwan University. (Invited Speaker)
6. Jul, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Rapidly manipulating molecular activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. Osaka University. (Invited Speaker)
5. Jul, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Rapidly rewriting the tubulin codes inside primary cilia. New Biological Frontiers Illuminated by Molecular Sensors and Actuators Meeting. (Invited Speaker)
4. Apr, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Visualizing and manipulating molecular composition and activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. TungHai University. (Invited Speaker)
3. Mar, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Using Chemical approaches and optogenetics to manipulate cellular composition and activity. The meeting series in the Brain Research Center, National Tsing Hua University. (Invited Speaker)
2. Mar, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Visualizing and manipulating molecular composition and activity in primary cilia. The departmental seminar series in the college of life science, National Tsing Hua University. (Invited Speaker)
1. Feb, 2015: Lin, Y.C. Manipulating molecular composition and activities in primary cilia by chemical biology approaches. The annual retreat of the Institute of molecular medicine, National Tsing Hua University. (Invited Speaker)
About me
My research career up until today has been centered on signal transduction occurring at different cellular compartments such as Golgi and primary cilia. My thesis project was primarily focused on lipid homeostasis in arterial endothelial cells (Professor Vie Cheng's lab, Department of Life Science, Tunghai University). My studies demonstrated that protein kinase C pathway regulates high density lipoprotein-induced up-regulation of a membrane protein, ABCA1. The increased level of ABCA1 in turn triggers oligomerization of caveolin-1. Oligomerized caveolin-1 subsequently exits from Golgi, a process prerequisite for HDL-mediated cholesterol efflux. These findings revealed the molecular mechanism of lipid homeostasis in arterial cells and shed light on how to prevent atherosclerosis (Refs 1,2,3).
During my first postdoctoral training, I elucidated the role of ARL4A, an unconventional member of the Ras small GTPase superfamily, in structural maintenance of the Golgi apparatus (Professor Fang-Jen Lee's laboratory, Institution of Molecular Medicine, National Taiwan University). More specifically, I found that ARL4A directly interacts with a Golgi residing protein, GCC185, as well as a microtubule protein, CLASP, in a highly ordered manner at the trans-Golgi network, and that this complex formation is indispensable for the structural integrity of Golgi (Ref 4). Based on the significance of these findings, I received an invitation to give an oral presentation at the international conference at Kyoto University in Japan, together with several research awards including a prestigious, highly competitive postdoctoral fellowship provided by Ministry of Science and Technology.
Through these studies, I learned how dynamic cellular processes were, and how limited we were with existing experimental techniques in manipulating and visualizing the dynamic cellular processes precisely in determined space and time. Devoted to developing new technologies to address cellular processes in more detail, I joined Dr. Takanari Inoue’s laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, where I began acquiring the knowledge and skills of live-cell imaging and chemically-inducible dimerization (CID) technique to manipulate specific molecular activities in various subcellular regions on a timescale of seconds. My second postdoctoral training in Dr. Inoue’s laboratory was mainly focused on two projects: improvement and implementation of the CID technique. To be specific, I overcame the irreversible nature of the CID, one of the biggest limitations of the CID at that time. I established a dual CID system to turn on and off molecular signaling such as Rac-/PI3K-dependent membrane ruffling on a timescale of seconds in living intact cells (Ref 5). I also implemented the CID technique to address one longstanding question in the primary cilia field. Following this path, I have newly developed a CID technique termed “Chemically Inducible Diffusion Trap” (CIDT) to visualize the soluble protein trafficking in primary cilia. It has long been believed that primary cilia hold a pore like barrier at the base to restrict protein diffusion larger than a threshold size. The CIDT I developed has provided me an opportunity to characterize and identify the size-dependent permeable diffusion barrier at the base of primary cilia, which was published in “Nature Chemical Biology” (Ref 6) and was highly regarded by the community with highlighted comments in several media and scientific articles, and invitations for an oral presentation at the 2013 ASCB Annual Meeting as well as for a review article on diffusion barriers in cells (reported in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology; Ref 7).
I joined National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan as an assistant professor in 2015 and was promoted associate professor in 2019. My team focuses mainly on two projects: 1) Spatiotemporally manipulating the microtubule disassmebly and post-translational modifications (Hong et al., Nat Commun, 2018; Yang et al., Front Cell Dev Biol, 2021); 2) Sonogenetics: using medical ultrasound to control cellular activities (Fan et al., ACS Synth Biol, 2017; Huang et al., Nano Letters, 2020; Wu et al., Theranostics, 2020; Fan et al., Nano Letters, 2021). These established tools will serve as catalysts to incorporate powerful new methodology and unique concepts to scientific communities as well as offering new strategies for various non-invasive therapeutic applications.