Distinguished Research Fellow

EDUCATION AND POSITIONS HELD:

• Ph.D., Physics, Brandeis University (1979).
• Postdoctoral Fellow. National Magnet Laboratory, M.I.T.(1979-1982)
• Assistant professor of Physics & adjunct assistant professor of Biochemistry, University of Maine (1982 – 1986)
• Associate professor of Physics and Member of the Center for Biotechnology, Georgia Institute of Technology (1986 – 1993)Research Fellow, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica (1991 – present)
• Professor, Department of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University (2002 – present)
• Director, High-field Macromolecular NMR Core Facility of the National Research Program for Genomic Medicine (2000 – present)

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

We employ state-of-the-art high field nuclear magnetic resonance and other physico-chemical and molecular biology techniques to investigate the structure, dynamics, folding, and functions of proteins, focusing on those that have important pathological consequences. Our long-term goal is to design effective drugs targeting on our selected protein systems. Our current interests include: Molecular basis of the catalytic mechanism of E. coli thioesterase/protease I (TEP-I) (a serine protease); Structure, function, folding and disease basis of human branched-chain a-ketoacid dehydrogenase (BCKD) (Deficiency in BCKD complex causes maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) with severe clinical consequences, including acidosis, neurological derangement and mental retardation); Structure and functional mechanism of hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) - a mitogenic agent toward various cell lines and was also implicated in gastric cancer and in the development of vascular tissue, kidney and liver; SARS coronavirus nucleocapsid protein (N), an essential structural protein of SARS CoV; Structural genomics of virulent factors of Klebsiella pneumoniae.

(A)	(B)

(A) Structure of the HATH domain of human hepatoma-derived growth factor.

(B) Surface charge distribution of the heparin binding site. Blue indicates positive charge and red color denotes negative charge. Hexasaccharide derived from heparin is shown in stick model.