I am Alexander Wu, a faculty member at Taipei Medical University (TMU), where I serve as a professor in the Ph.D. Program for Translational Medicine. To promote global scientific collaboration, I hold joint appointments in the International Ph.D. and Master’s Programs for Translational Science, as well as in the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics. As an active researcher leading government-funded initiatives, I am eager to welcome dedicated international students to my laboratory through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) IIPP.
Global Educational Background and Academic Trajectory: My scientific training is grounded in an international perspective. I earned my B.S. in Biochemistry (1997) and my Ph.D. in Anatomy and Cell Biology (2005) from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. To enhance my translational research skills, I also served as a visiting scholar in Dr. Andrew Kung’s laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2010. This diverse academic background has prepared me to foster a supportive, culturally inclusive, and rigorous mentorship environment for international scholars.
 

Core Research Focus and NSTC-Sponsored Initiatives: My laboratory is dedicated to advancing the frontiers of biomedical science. Our core research domains include cancer and stem cell biology, translational research, the development of novel drugs and therapeutic strategies, regenerative medicine, and the biology and clinical applications of extracellular vesicles.
Currently, our team is spearheading multiple projects funded directly by the NSTC. Incoming students will have the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge investigations, such as:
•    Translational research exploring how new in-house developed drug candidates can reprogram the tumor immune microenvironment to overcome immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) resistance mediated by cancer stem cells.
•    Leveraging cardiac protective peptides to augment the therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles for precision myocardial infarction therapy.
 

Furthermore, my active memberships in the TMU Research Center of Cell Therapy and Regeneration Medicine and the Taipei Heart Institute provide my students with extensive interdisciplinary and collaborative networks.
Publication Record and Scientific Impact Interns joining my team will integrate into a highly productive and globally recognized research group. Over the course of my career, my scholarly contributions have achieved an h-index of 40 and accumulated over 5,500 citations. To date, I have contributed to 173 research outputs, including 166 peer-reviewed articles.
Our recent publications reflect a commitment to multidisciplinary problem-solving, featuring breakthroughs in:
•    Pathology-tailored nanotherapy and multimodal therapies against aortic dissection.
•    Computer-aided drug discovery targeting signaling pathways in ovarian, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers.
•    In silico and in vitro validations of novel theragnostic targets and plant-derived therapeutics against oxidative stress and inflammation.
•    The publication of open-access clinical datasets, including research on the anti-proliferative effects of neoadjuvant metformin in ovarian cancer.
I invite ambitious and motivated international students to join our innovative research team at TMU through the NSTC IIPP. Together, we can translate complex scientific discoveries into pioneering clinical applications.
Welcome to my laboratory at Taipei Medical University (TMU). Our highly productive research group is positioned at the intersection of bioinformatics, pharmacology, and translational medicine. We specialize in bridging the gap between benchside scientific discoveries and real-world clinical applications, with core research interests in cancer and stem cell biology, regenerative medicine, extracellular vesicle biology, and new drug development.
 

For students interested in advancing biomedical science, our lab offers a rigorous and multidisciplinary training environment. Below is an overview of the scientific skills you can acquire and the groundbreaking discoveries you will contribute to.
Scientific Skills You Will Acquire
By joining our team, students will be trained in a versatile array of modern, highly sought-after scientific methodologies:
•    In Silico Modeling and Computer-Aided Drug Discovery: You will learn to use computational tools to identify new theragnostic targets for various cancer types and design small-molecule inhibitors that target key signaling pathways involved in cancer progression for potential treatments.  
•    Nanomedicine and Targeted Therapeutics: Students gain hands-on experience in advanced drug delivery systems, such as designing pathology-tailored nanoparticles for multimodal treatments against a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular and cancer.
•    In Vitro Experimental Validation: You will master techniques to validate bioinformatics findings in the lab. This includes testing in-house-developed new therapeutics using 3D cell models, such as patient-derived tumoroids and cardiac microtissues.  
•    Advanced Cell Culture Techniques: Our lab utilizes cutting-edge protocols, including proprietary culture methods, to generate enhanced Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) and secretomes.
•    Clinical Dataset Analysis: Students will learn how to leverage and analyze open-access clinical datasets, a skill we recently applied to demonstrate the synergistic anti-proliferative effects of adding neoadjuvant metformin to conventional chemotherapy in ovarian cancer.
•    In vivo drug evaluation:  Students will gain experience in small animal disease models for drug evaluation for different biomedical topics, such as cancer, cardiovascular systems, and regenerative medicine. 
If you are a driven student eager to master advanced translational research skills and contribute to impactful medical discoveries, I welcome you to join our laboratory at TMU!