Kai-Lin Hong

EDUCATION

College / University

National Taiwan University

Highest Degree

Master of Science

Major Subjects

Biochemical Science and Technology

hong_1

Country

Taiwan

Lab Experience

Cell culture, transfection, CRISPR/Cas9, liquid and solid culture of bacteria and yeast, protein expression system (BL21 (DE3), S. cerevisiae, P. pastoris), fermentation, molecular cloning, protein isolation and purification, western blot, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, ELISA, enzymatic assays, fluorescence and light microscopy, spectrophotometry, chromatography.

Projects / Research

  • 2017 – 2018: "Engineering Bacteria as a Smart Drug Delivery Vehicle".
  • 2015 – 2017: "Effects of the Three Tryptophan Residues on the Functions of an Immunomodulatory Protein from Ganoderma microsporum, GMI".
  • 2014 – 2015: "Mapping RNA exit channel on transcribing RNA polymerase I by chemical probe, FeBABE".
  • 2013 – 2014: "Sensitive Detection of Aflatoxin B1 by Oligo-nucleotides Conformational Change with Formation of a DNA-adduct".
  • 2013: "Bacterial Diversity and Composition in the Coral and Surface Seawater".

Scholarships / Awards

2018 – 2019: Stipend by the International Max Planck Research School
2015: Research Achievement Award of Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, National Taiwan University
2014 – 2015: College Student Research Fellowship, National Science Council, Taiwan
2013: Travel grant from College of Life Science, National Taiwan University

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS

I am very interested in synthetic biology as it combines science and engineering to create novel biological functions and systems. With synthetic biology, we can reprogram the cell and turn it into a robot for useful purpose (e.g. tumor-targeting bacteria for cancer treatment or bio-sensory networks for detections). It helps us not only understanding but even controlling life. After my graduation I joined the lab of Dr. Hsuan-Chen Wu whose lab’s interest is synthetic biology. I really enjoyed discussing with him how to design and reprogram cells and we always came up with a lot of crazy ideas, which is the reason why I am fascinated about synthetic biology. However, I believe to really understand the variety and power of synthetic biology, a solid knowledge and foundation of molecular biology is needed. Thus, I would like to devote myself to molecular biology and learn more about the natural program of cells.