Career Development & Academia v.s. Industry
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Dr. Alex Ko-Hsuan Hung
Head, Lyophilization and Bioassay Integration, TE Connectivity |
Dr. Hung is the Head of Lyophilization and Bioassay Integration at TE IVD Solutions. He established the department, expanding reagent integration capabilities to meet customer demands for IVD consumable development. TE IVD Solutions is a major medical device contract manufacturer and a key player in the microfluidics market. With expertise in formulation development, protein engineering, and GMP manufacturing, Dr. Hung leads cross-functional teams and drives projects in research and GMP settings. His focus lies in IVD fields for rapid molecular test development. Previously at Mesa Biotech (later acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific), Dr. Hung built the Protein Science department, reducing enzyme costs while ensuring quality. His efforts led to FDA Emergency Use Authorization for the Accula SARS-CoV-2 Test, securing $31M for test distribution. Thermo Fisher's $550M acquisition of Mesa Biotech included his leadership in the Protein Science department and formulation manufacturing.. Dr. Hung holds a Ph.D. in Biology from UC San Diego, with postdoctoral training at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and San Diego State University. He earned his B.S. degree from National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan.
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Dr. Yu-Han Hank Chen
Scientist II, Assay Development of R&D, Ambry Genetics |
Hank had an explicit goal to pursue his graduate study in US when was in college, so after finishing his BS in CLSMB from NTU in 2006, he went directly to military service. Completing military service, he started the research experience as a Research Assistant in Academia Sinica, focusing on molecular cloning and cancer cell biology. In 2009, he was admitted to Biotechnology Master program with Stem Cell focus at UC Irvine and opened up a different research experience in stem cell biology and mitochondria. In 2011, he earned MS degree and continued into PhD program in Physiology and Biophysics at UC Irvine. 5 years of research experience focusing on metabolism and mitochondrial molecular studies. With strong interest in research, he continued with a postdoc position still focusing on mitochondria but shifting towards diabetes and animal studies. Almost 5 years of postdoc position immersed him with a variety of research experiences and academic lab environments. In 2020, he moved with the PI to City of Hope and started as staff scientist and lab manager, beginning his academic career. Shortly a year later in 2021, he moved on to industry sector to continue his research career. His first position in industry sector was a Research Scientist at MP Biomedicals, Irvine. Hank joined MP when the company’s short term goal is to establish initial products in molecular biology field and this is something he had years of experience with. In the short 8 months of employment with MP, he helped push 3 products development and launch. In 2022, he moved on again to Ambry Genetics, where sequencing technologies are heavily involved but he did not have any of the experience with. He continued as scientist 2 and worked hard to gain NGS experience till now. Hank has strong interest in research and like to be challenged with unfamiliar tasks. He also has a plan to grow a career in cell and gene therapy sector in industry.
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Moderator
Ssu-Chieh Hsu (Joe)
Postdoctoral Scientist at Crosslife Technologies Inc. Avid scientist and engineer with a background in the innate immune system and tool developments for immunology research. Experienced in utilizing standardized or custom techniques to design, perform, and analyze cell-based experiments to study inflammatory responses of macrophages. Also, collaborated with research groups from diverse backgrounds to design, optimize, and troubleshoot a single-cell analysis platform. I look forward to furthering the development of emerging technological approaches and helping uncover mechanisms modulating the biological systems and improving human health. |
Andrew Tsao
Global Market Development Manager at GenScript Biotech Andrew Tsao graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S. degree in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. He currently serves as the Global Market Development Manager at GenScript Biotech, where he drives market development strategies and develops marketing plans and campaigns for the GenScript’s molecular biology portfolio. Previously, he has experience in both research and product management roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific. |