Dr. Yun-Ju Lai graduated from the Department of Medical Technology at National Taiwan University in 1997. She obtained her Master’s degree from the Institute of Microbiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University in 1999, where she studied the oncogenic mechanisms of the hepatitis B virus X protein. 
In 2001, she joined the laboratory of Professor Jer-Tsong Hsieh at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where she conducted quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) research on adenovirus and enterovirus receptors. The following year, she was accepted into the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to pursue a Ph.D., focusing on the role of focal adhesion proteins in ovarian and brain cancer oncogenesis. During her Ph.D. studies, she received a fellowship from the American Heart Association (AHA).
After earning her Ph.D. in 2007, she continued as a postdoctoral fellow, receiving both the Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2010, she returned to Taiwan and joined the faculty at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), where she has been actively engaged in both teaching and research. Her research has not only continued to explore the molecular mechanisms of cancer progression and novel therapeutic strategies but has also involved interdisciplinary collaborations, such as cellular imaging optimization and the development of a microfluidic cell-based drug screening platform. She has been awarded two joint research projects under the NTU System Alliance and has actively pursued large-scale interdisciplinary integrated research projects.

Teaching: Professor Lai specializes in Cell Biology, Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Clinical Microbiology, and Virology. 

Membership: 
 

• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
• American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
• American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB)
• European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
• European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
• Taiwan Society for Cell Biology

The goal of our research in to develop strategies targeting cancer stem cells: drug screening and marker identification.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are proposed cancer cells that possess self-renewal and differentiation abilities, allowing them to generate new cancer cells. They may contribute to tumor initiation, recurrence, drug resistance, and cancer metastasis. New strategies focusing on CSC were investigated to improve clinical applications for early detection, developing novel therapeutics, and facilitating cancer therapy. We have established a CSC drug screening platform using cancer cell-derived tumor spheroids to explore the candidate compounds targeting CSCs. Meanwhile, we investigated the potential CSC markers through microarray analysis of clinic samples. Further functional mechanism studies of these compounds/markers were also conducted, including their regulation of cell cycle, apoptosis, autophagy, and exosome formation. In conclusion, these comprehensive investigations pave the way for enhanced understanding and targeted approaches in combating cancer stem cells, offering promising avenues for advancing cancer diagnosis and treatment.