Speakers

• Associate Professor in Department of Biochemistry, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan. (1994-2003)
• Assistant Professor, Department of Stomatology, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine (1999~2005)
• Assistant professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine (1999~2004)
• Attending Physician and Session Chief, Oral Diagnosis and Pathology, Department of Stomatology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital (2000-)
• Associate Professor, Institute of Oral Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine(2005-2008)
• Associate Director of Research and Education, Center for Micro Nano Science and Technology, National Cheng Kung University(2005-2007)
• Director of University Development, National Cheng Kung University(2007-2009)
• Professor, Institute of Oral Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine (2008-2011)
• Chairman, Institute of Oral Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University(2009-2014)
• Distinguished Professor, Institute of Oral Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine(2011- )
• Deputy Minister, Ministry of Science and Technology(2018.09-)

• Director General, Department of Life Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan. (2017-Present)
• Associate Vice President, Office of Research and Development, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. (2016-2017)
• Chairman in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan. (2014-Present)
• Distinguished Professor in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan. (2009-Present)
• Professor in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan. (2003-2009)
• Director, Center for Instrument Development of NCKU-NSC. (2005-2007)
• Associate Professor in Department of Biochemistry, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan. (1994-2003)

Yuh-Jzer Joung received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the National Taiwan University in 1984, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1988 and 1992, respectively. He is currently a professor at the Department of Information Management in National Taiwan University, where he has been a faculty member since 1992. From 1999 to 2000, he was a visiting scientist at the Lab for Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was the chair of his department from 2001 to 2005. In 2009-2010, he was a visiting scholar in the School of Information at UC Berkeley, and in the IBM Almaden Research Center. From Feb. 2012-Jul. 2013, he served as an associate dean of the College of Management in National Taiwan University, in charge of the service and integration of the computing resources in the cloud.

Since 2013, he is the general director of the Science & Technology Policy Research and Information Center, a think tank with over 150 researchers and assistants. His research is in the area of distributed computing, network applications, and cloud computing, and has published over 70 conference and journal papers, mostly first-authored. He has recently devoted much of his time in teaching and promoting emerging information technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and is leading several important projects on the national scale in the area.

Contact Information: joung@stpi.narl.org.tw

Professor Yufeng Jane Tseng received her B.S. degree in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University in 1997, and Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy from University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002. Prof. Tseng worked as a postdoctoral research associate at UIC in 2003 and 2004 and then moved to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health in 2005 as an IRTA Research Fellow. Dr. Tseng joined the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering of National Taiwan University in 2006 and holds a joint appointment at the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University. She is currently a professor at the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics, and Bioinformatics, the Department of Computer Science and Information, and the School of Pharmacy. Prof. Tseng is the founder and the Principal Investigator of the Metabolomics Core Laboratory at the Genomics Center. She is currently the Director of the Drug Research Center and also associate director of Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center of National Taiwan University.

Her research interests include AI-assisted Drug Design/Discovery, and Metabolomics. Prof. Tseng’s specialty in AI-assisted drug design and discovery has made fast discovery and showed promising clinical results for novel CNS and cardiovascular drug developments. Prof. Tseng’s extraordinary effort in drug discovery also recently resulted in three prestigious awards: Taiwan National Bio-Innovation Award (2016), Novartis Venture Fund Mentorship Grantee (only two cases in 2016), and NTU EECS Academic Merit Award (2017). She is also the recipients of many international awards including IBM Faculty Award (USA, 2015), and Ching Kang Foundation Young Investigator Award and Drug Repurposing Innovation Award from TWi Pharmaceutical Foundation (2016, and 2015, Taiwan). She has been organizing the drug discovery symposiums at America Chemical Society (ACS) National Meetings since 2009. Her recent global efforts including TDT – Teach, Discovery, Treat initiatives for treating neglected diseases. TDT initiative was awarded by the ACS IPG innovation fund in 2012. In 2013, TDT was awarded with ACS Chemluminary award for its global effort combating neglected diseases.

I have over 35 years of experience in basic and applied molecular parasitology. My project on Eimeria in chickens (the causative agent of coccidiosis, which is the most economically important disease of any kind in the chicken industry), has led to the development, patenting, registration and marketing of a maternally based, subunit vaccine against the disease called CoxAbic®.

I have a BSc from the University of Michigan (1973) and an MSc & PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (1980). I spent 3 years working as a Post-Doctoral fellow at the Rockefeller University, New York, NY and in 1984 I received the position as lecturer at the Hebrew University. From 1991-1993 I was a Visiting Professor at the University of Bern, Switzerland and from 1994-2002 I worked as Project Leader at Teva Pharmaceuticals, Israel where my vaccine was commercialized.

In 2002 I was appointed as the inaugural director of the Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Researchers in the institute worked on both human and animal pathogens to develop new methods of control for some of the most devastating diseases on this planet such as malaria and influenza.

Since 2008, I developed a course in Bio-innovation & Entrepreneurship for post-graduate students working in the area of biomedical research largely based on my own life experience. In 2012 a collaboration was formed with Stanford Medical School and I initiated an international course in Bio-Innovation & Entrepreneurship in which PhD students from all over the world work together in small teams to develop ideas for new biomedical projects/products. The course is run annually in one of the SPARK Global participating countries.

In 2014 I was appointed as Director of the SPARK Sydney program which includes UTS, the University of Sydney & Macquarie University. In 2017 SPARK programs commenced at Monash University and in 2018 at the Univ. of Melbourne where I have facilitated both programs. In 2018 I was appointed as the regional director for SPARK Oceania.

Michel Chu is a venture capitalist, serial entrepreneur, mentor, adjunct professor and entrepreneurial coach. Michel is currently General Partner of Acorn Campus Taiwan, a venture fund focusing on early-stage life science projects. In addition, he also served, on volunteer basis, as the Chief Innovation Officer of BioMedTW – Taiwan government’s project office to oversee, facilitate and accelerate Taiwan's life science industry. Meanwhile, Michel founded and currently serves as Chairman and acting CEO of VSense, a company developing revolutionary semi-conductor-based biosensors for in vitro diagnostics. Michel co-founded GigaMedia (NASDAQ: GIGM) in 1997 and led the company through a $4.5B IPO in 2000, the largest non-US Internet IPO at the time.

Michel has extensive domain expertise in diverse fields from medical devices, mobile Internet, cloud computing to merger and acquisitions.  He has been an active early-stage investor with 20+ years of experiences of coaching, building, inspiring and accelerating entrepreneurial teams.  Michel has a demonstrated track record of facilitating start-ups, particularly technology spin-outs from research institutions.  Michel is a respected authority on entrepreneurship and is a sought-after judge / speaker / mentor at leading entrepreneurial activities.

Michel is also an adjunct faculty at National Taiwan University, giving courses on Multi-sided Platforms, Medical Device Commercialization, Entrepreneurship, Group Dynamics and Leadership.

Dr. Taylor is the Founder and Principal of NonClinical Safety Assessment, a consulting firm focusing on the safety evaluation of drugs and medical devices.

Dr. Taylor has more than 25 years of R&D experience in the pharmaceutical industry. His pharmaceutical industry career started with Syntex Research. He has held executive leadership positions at Roche Bioscience, Durect Corporation, Protein Design Labs, Alexza Pharmaceuticals, and Limerick BioPharma. He is currently a mentor in Stanford University’s SPARK program, providing pharmaceutical development guidance to students and aspiring entrepreneurs. He holds Ph.D. (1988) and M.S. (1984) degrees in toxicology from Utah State University with postdoctoral training at the CNRS of France and the NIH (1987-1990), is an active member of the Society of Toxicology and the American College of Toxicology, and is certified by the American Board of Toxicology. Dr. Taylor is author/co-author of more than 50 publications, including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and abstracts.

Dr. Taylor’s experience includes development of both small and large molecules covering a wide variety of therapeutic areas, successfully supporting the development of both novel and repurposed therapeutics. He is experienced with multiple modes of drug delivery, including pumps, patches, and controlled release formulations. His consultation services include study design/planning, lab selection, oversight, data interpretation/reporting, and regulatory document preparation; strategic planning for lead selection and backup strategy; IND/registration planning, document preparation, and regulatory interaction.

Lyn Frumkin consults on biotechnology and life sciences investment opportunities for start-up and early stage biotechnology companies and venture capital firms. Lyn previously worked at the biotechnology companies Amgen, Inc. and ICOS Corp., where he provided broad expertise, including leading clinical teams conducting global development programs across multiple therapeutic indications and negotiating regulatory strategy for successful approval of pivotal trials and programs in North America, Europe, and Japan.

Lyn currently serves on the scientific advisory board of ADRx, Inc., a privately held company developing novel approaches for amyloid diseases with high unmet medical needs. He was previously a Consulting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he currently participates as an advisor to the SPARK translational medicine program created to advance promising discoveries from the laboratory into important therapies. Lyn is also a Fulbright Specialist, which allows service as an expert consultant on programs related to transitional medicine/public health at overseas academic institutions during 2018-2020.

To participate in medical relief for those affected by disasters or crises, Lyn was deployed during 2010 to the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO) camp and Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He continues to travel to Haiti to provide medical relief and is on the Board of Directors of Hime-for-Help, a nonprofit organization supporting medical and other relief in developing countries.

Lyn received his BS in Psychology and Biology (magna cum laude) with Honors, and a combined MD-PhD (Behavioral Medicine/ Neuroscience) with Honors from the University of Washington. His postgraduate training in internal medicine was at Stanford University, with subsequent subspecialty training in Neurology at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Infectious Diseases/ Virology (University of Washington) under Prof. Lawrence Corey.

Dr. Jane SC Tsai is Senior Vice President for International Affairs at YFY Biotech Management Company. She is a current Senior Advisor and a former Deputy General Director and Chief Operating Officer at the Biomedical Technology and Device Research Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan. She has served as a consultant, judge, mentor, and adviser for several entrepreneurship programs, startup competitions, incubators, accelerators, and a global consulting firm.

An experienced executive leader in transforming inventions and innovation into business value, Dr. Tsai has over 30 years of post-doctoral experience in biomedical research, development, commercialization, and business strategy and management. With her career spanning across industry, academia, research institutes, hospital, and consultancy, Dr. Tsai has collaborated with cross-disciplinary partners globally.

A Director and Research Leader at Roche Diagnostics for 16 years, Dr. Tsai directed four diverse R&D programs and led various cross-functional teams to achieve concept-to-commerce innovations, global product launches, and total product lifecycle management. She was a global member in Strategic Visioning, M&A relocations, business development, and key opinion leader networking. Prior to joining Roche, she was a scientist and Principal Investigator in a comprehensive cancer center (now Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute).

A leader in a spectrum of business planning and execution, Dr. Tsai also participated in several Standardization, Regulatory, and Intellectual Property committees. She was an adviser for the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and is a member of the Asian Harmonization Working Party. She has expansive experience in knowledge management and has published and presented in a variety of platforms. Dr. Tsai is a Fellow of AACC Academy and a member of several leading biomedical and pharmaceutical associations.

Dr. Tsai received her B.S. from National Taiwan University, and her Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Information Systems (NJIT), and Executive and Professional Certificates in diverse fields such as Project Management (NYU), Complex Product Development (MIT), Finance (UM), Clinical Research (NIH), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (U of ND), and more.