Dr. Lai’s group focuses on developing novel imaging and omics methods to elucidate biological phenomena, including cell-released bionanoparticles, genome editing, and DNA repair.
The Young Scientist Award is awarded to principal investigators under the age of 45 working on biomedical research. Dr. Lai is one of the four researchers selected for the award. “I sincerely appreciate YungShin Tien Te Lee Biomedical Foundation and the Review Panel for supporting and selecting me for this prestigious award. We are a team of multidisciplinary pioneers who create and apply new technologies to explore intricate biological events. This can often be an arduous and extended journey. My team and I are therefore both excited and encouraged to be recognized for our recent works,” said Dr. Lai.
Dr. Lai is also the recipient of the 2020 Career Development Award from Academia Sinica, a competitive five-year grant awarded to full-time Associate/Assistant Research Fellows who are nominated and subsequently selected based on their excellent track record and world-class research potential in their respective fields. Dr. Lai also received the 2020 Excellent Young Scholar Research Grant from MOST, a three-year grant awarded to top-ranked applicants under the age of 45 for each research division at MOST. “My team and I are honored to be awarded these important grants as we continue to push and explore the boundaries between imaging and proteomics of bionanoparticles including exosomes and microvesicles under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. We are very fortunate to be always learning and exploring,” said Dr. Lai.
Dr. Lai and his team published their recent works on in vivo imaging of bionanoparticles in Advanced Science1 and Nature Methods2, and their work on in vivo tracking of DNA repairs has been published in Nucleic Acids Research3 and Nature Protocols4.
References
1Wu, A.Y., Sung, Y., Chen, Y., Chou, S.T., Guo, V., Chien, J.C., Ko, J.J., Yang, A.L., Huang, H., Chuang, J., Wu, S., Ho, M., Ericsson, M., Lin, W., Cheung, C.H.Y., Juan, H., Ueda, K., Chen, Y., Lai, C.P. (2020). Multiresolution imaging using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer identifies distinct biodistribution profiles of extracellular vesicles and exomeres with redirected tropism. Advanced Science. 7 (19): 2001467-83.
2Verweij., F., Balaj, L., Boulanger, C., Carter, D., Compeer, E., D’Angelo, G., El Andaloussi, S, Goetz, J.G., Gross, J., Hyenne, V., Krämer-Albers, E., Lai, C.P., Loyer, X., Mark, A., Momma, S., Hoen, E., N., Pegtel, M., Peinado, H., Raposo, G., Rilla, K., Tahara, H., Théry, C., van Royen, M., Vandenbroucke, R., Wehman, A., Witer, K., Wu, Z., Wubbolts, R., Niel, G.V. (2021). The power of imaging to understand extracellular vesicles in vivo. Nature Methods. doi:10.1038/s41592-021-01206-3
3Chien J.C., Tabet E., Pinkham, K., da Hora, C.C., Chang, J.C., Lin, S., Badr C.E.*, Lai, C.P.* (2020). Multiplexed bioluminescent reporter enables real-time tracking of DNA double strand break repair dynamics in vitro and in vivo. Nucleic Acids Research. 48 (17): e100-117. *Co-last authors.
4Chien, J.C., Badr, C.E.*, Lai, C.P.* (2021). Multiplexed bioluminescence-mediated tracking of DNA double strand break repairs in vitro and in vivo. Nature Protocols. doi: 10.1038/s41596-021-00564-8. *Co-last authors.