Our interdisciplinary team connects cross-domain expertise spanning plant science, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacology, disease modeling, formulation engineering, multi-omics, and bioinformatics. Five specialized units operate in synergy to form a seamless research and translation chain, coordinating plant sourcing, chemical standardization, biological validation, product development, and mechanism discovery across medicine, pharmacy, biomedical sciences, traditional medicine, and computational biology.

Five Specialized Research Units

Five-unit integrated research and translation chain
The Center’s five-unit research and translation chain.

Plant Resources and Chemical Standardization

Plant Technology and Phytochemical Analysis research teams

1. Plant Technology Unit

Core Focus: Leverages plant tissue culture, genetic engineering, and synthetic biology to ensure reliable access to high-quality, standardized medicinal plant materials.

  • Unit Lead: Po-Hsuan Chou
  • Team Members: Chi-Ping Cheng and Wei-Chung Liu

2. Phytochemical Analysis Unit

Core Focus: Establishes chemical fingerprinting and analytical platforms, employing metabolomics to drive active-ingredient identification and quality standardization.

  • Unit Lead: Chin-Hung Liu
  • Team Members: Chi-Ying Li, Yi-Tzu Lin, Li-Jen Chen, and Shang-Chih Lai

Biological Validation, Formulation, and Integration

Bioactivity Assay, Herbal Formulation, and Bioinformatics research teams

3. Bioactivity Assay Unit

Core Focus: Utilizes cell-based assays and complementary in vivo models to rigorously evaluate pharmacological activity, efficacy, safety, and target mechanisms.

  • Unit Lead: Ingrid Y Liu
  • Team Members: Ming-Der Lin, Ruo-Chia Tseng, Hung-Jung Wang, Meng-ya Chang, Chee-Hing Yang, Li-Jen Chen, and Peeraporn Varinthra

4. Herbal Formulation Unit

Core Focus: Develops novel herbal and natural product formulations, optimizes clinical relevance, and prepares research outcomes for commercial and practical translation.

  • Unit Lead: Shang-Chih Lai
  • Team Members: Ping-Hsun Lu, Heng-Yuan Chang, and Cheng-Huan Peng

5. Bioinformatics Unit

Core Focus: Integrates transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiome data using network pharmacology and systems biology to map multi-component, multi-target mechanisms.

  • Unit Lead: Sheng-An Lee
  • Team Members: Ming-Der Lin and Chun-Yao Chen

Strategic Operations & Goals

  • Competitive Funding & Alliances: Pursue major research grants and deepen strategic partnerships with government agencies, Academia Sinica, and Tzu Chi Hospital.
  • Translational Milestones: Drive cross-disciplinary synergies to deliver flagship scientific and clinical outcomes.
  • Global Reach & Industry Synergy: Expand international academic exchanges and strengthen industry–academia translational pipelines.
  • Talent Pipeline: Engage graduate students in translational projects and interdisciplinary curricula to cultivate the next generation of integrative biomedical leaders.