From Basic Research to Translational Medicine and New Drug Development

    Dr. Han-Chung Wu is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology, and the Director of Biomedical Translation Research Center (BioTReC), Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He is also a Professor at the College of Medicine of the National Taiwan University. Dr. Wu’s research interest focuses on the identification of novel tumor antigens, development of targeting drug delivery systems for cancer therapy and molecular imaging. He has developed phage display technologies for the generation of fully human monoclonal antibodies and the identification of peptides for a variety of target molecules. Recently, he also developed targeting mRNA-LNP technologies for in vivo gene and cell therapies. Up to now, Dr. Wu has published over 146 original articles in world-renowned journals, and 145 Patents (including 102 granted patents and 43 filed patents; 51 Patent families). He has successfully licensed out 25 technologies from 24 patent families to biotech companies. Eight of the licensed technologies serve as the basis for products that are currently in clinical trials or already on the market. Eight of the licensed technologies are currently in preclinical studies for the development of therapeutics. Hence, his research results not only have significant value in basic research, but also practical applications with tangible contributions to the development of the biotech industry and drug development. Dr. Wu was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) of the United States in 2020. This is among the highest achievable honors for an academic inventor.

    Aside from conducting research, Dr. Wu has also been responsible for coordinating academic activities and overseeing administration at the Institute of Cellular and Organismic Biology as the Vice Director and Acting Director. He had also served as the Director of the Department of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Academia Sinica, to promote the protection of intellectual property and the technology transfer, and use the industrialization of intellectual property rights to enhance social welfare. In 2019, Dr. Wu joined National Research Biotechnology Park (NBRP), Academia Sinica, as Chief Executive Officer of Innovation Incubation Center. He is currently serving as the Director of BioTReC, NBRP, Academia Sinica, with the mission of promoting the biotechnology industry development in Taiwan.