Research & Academia

Introduction In the previous article, I discussed how to prepare key application documents for U.S. graduate school, including the Statement of Purpose (SOP) and CV . In this article, I want to focus on a question that almost every applicant struggles with: How should I choose a U.S. graduate school PhD program? Choosing a graduate school is similar to choosing a university major in Taiwan: Should you prioritize the school , the program , or the advisor ? This decision often

Introduction In recent years, through Project Tyra , I have had the opportunity to mentor two undergraduate students from Taiwan who were applying to U.S. graduate programs. Throughout this process, one recurring issue became very clear: many strong applicants are not rejected because of weak backgrounds, but because they fail to clearly communicate their strengths through their application materials . This article provides a structured overview of how to prepare application

Introduction Messenger RNA (mRNA) has redefined what is possible in modern medicine. As a therapeutic platform, it enables rapid vaccine development, personalized cancer immunotherapy, and protein replacement strategies for rare diseases. However, behind every successful mRNA therapeutic lies a carefully engineered synthesis process. While clinical outcomes often dominate the conversation around mRNA therapeutics, the quality of mRNA synthesis ultimately determines translatio

Introduction Messenger RNA (mRNA), once a niche topic confined to molecular biology laboratories, has rapidly emerged as one of the most transformative technologies in modern medicine. While the COVID-19 pandemic brought mRNA vaccines into the global spotlight, their success was not an overnight miracle—it was the culmination of decades of foundational research, engineering breakthroughs, and persistent efforts to overcome the inherent fragility of RNA. Today, mRNA therapeuti

Introduction: The Delivery Problem in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Nucleic acid therapeutics—such as mRNA vaccines, siRNA drugs, and CRISPR-based gene editors—have transformed modern medicine. However, the clinical success of these modalities depends not only on the therapeutic payload itself, but critically on how efficiently and selectively it can be delivered in vivo . Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have emerged as the gold-standard platform for systemic nucleic acid delivery. By

Introduction Over the past decade, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have emerged as a cornerstone technology in nucleic acid drug delivery , enabling the clinical success of messenger RNA (mRNA), small interfering RNA (siRNA), and gene-editing modalities such as CRISPR-Cas9. Approved products like Onpattro® (patisiran) and the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have demonstrated that effective delivery—rather than payload design alone—is often the decisive fa

Introduction: When “More Experiments” Is No Longer the Answer In modern scientific research and engineering development, the central challenge is no longer whether to run experiments, but how to extract maximum insight from limited time, resources, and experimental capacity . Across drug development, bioprocess optimization, materials science, and platform R&D, researchers routinely face systems governed by multiple interacting variables. Traditional one-factor-at-a-time (OFA

What engineers can do in biomedical field? Lessons from MIT and Robert Langer Engineers are trained to solve problems using science, mathematics, and systematic thinking. In our daily lives, civil, chemical, electrical, and software engineers continuously improve infrastructure, technology, and productivity. But what can engineers do in medicine? The answer lies in biomedical engineering applications —a field that translates engineering principles into real-world medical solu