National Taiwan University

Academia Sinica is the most prominent academic institution in the Republic of China. The honor of being selected as academicians is given to academic researchers with outstanding achievements. NTU alumni were highly praised in the election, which confirms the outstanding education and research performance of NTU.

The ten NTU alumni t elected as Academia Sinica academicians are Chu Shih-I , Fan Liang-Shih, Juang Biing-Hwang, Chen Lih-J, Chen Sow-Hsin and Liu Bede of the Division of Mathematics and Physical Science, and Yao Meng-Chao, Chuang De-Maw, Yang Pan-Chyr and Chen Pei-Jer of the Division of Life Science.

Two of the electees, Yang Pan-Chyr and Chen Pei-Jer, are currently professors at NTU. Professor Yang Pan-Chyr has developed leading edge thoracic ultrasound diagnostics and therapeutics that have revolutionized the management of various thoracic diseases, and has become a required clinical skill for pulmonary physicians, thoracic surgeons and intensive-care specialists. These techniques provide diagnostic accuracy and safety of non-invasive procedures that greatly benefit many patients.

Professor Yang collaborates with President Wu Chen-Wen of NHRI (National Health Research Institute), Professor Chen Chien-Jen of NTU College of Public Health and seven medical centers and leads a research team of the Lung Cancer study group in the National Research Program for Genomic Medicine. Professor Yang also collaborated with Dr. Konan Peck in Academia Sinica in using molecular markers for the early diagnosis of lung cancer and prediction of treatment results . Their group identified four target genes by bioinformatics to detect circulating cancer cells in peripheral blood with high sensitivity and specificity and proposed a new TNM (TNM Classification of Malignant Tumours) staging system for lung cancer.

Professor Yang's group has made several important discoveries about the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer in Taiwan . They discovered gene expression signatures which can predict lung cancer outcome. They identified important novel metastasis promoter and suppressor genes in lung cancer and made comprehensive analysis of their molecular pathogenesis. Their research has significant clinical impact on our understanding of the disease mechanism, prognosis and targeted individualized treatment for lung cancer patients.

NTU distinguished Alumni elected as Academia Sinica Academicians