Chiou-Yan Lai

Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School

221 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115
Email:cl5c846c@westpost.net
Tel: 617-935-1282
Visa status: Permanent Resident Green Card Holder
HIGHLIGHT OF QUALIFICATIONS
-Team-oriented Microbiology Ph.D. with strong Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
skills.
-5 plus years of Postdoctoral experience in Molecular Virology and Cancer Biolog
y.
-Experienced in viral vectors; virus and cell culture techniques; biochemical te
chniques related to virus purification, laboratory animal medicine and immunoche
mistry.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Microbiology (2003) GPA 3.9/4.0
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
M.S. in Microbiology (2000) GPA 3.9/4.0
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL
B.S. in Biology (1996) GPA 3.9/4.0
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY&GENETICS: Stable gene knockdown by shRNA Lentiviral vectors, G
ene replacement techniques, Purification of Adenovirus, Molecular cloning, DNA &
RNA purification, PCR, RT-PCR, Q-PCR, Southern blotting, Genetic mapping, Chemi
cal and site-directed mutagenesis, In-situ hybridization, Manipulation of large
genomic DNA (Bacterial Artificial Chromosome), Radiolabeling, Bacteriophage tech
niques
BICHEMISTRY: Western blotting, Immunofluorescence, Immunohistochemistry, ELISA,
Fluorescence microscopy, FACS, Enzyme assays, Protein purification (FPLC, HPLC,
GST column), Thin layer chromatography, Phosphoimager
LABORATORY ANIMAL MEDICINE: Handling and restraint of small laboratory animals,
subdermal injection of melanoma cells infected with shRNA Lentiviral vector in m
urine models
CELL BIOLOGY: Mammalian cell culture, Human primary B cell preparation and trans
formation, Lymphoblastoid cell lines culturing, Preparation of lymphocytes from
umbilical cord blood, Wistar Melanoma (WM) cell lines culturing, Cell invasion a
ssay, Soft agar assay, Keratinocyte culturing, 3D skin reconstruct
LEADERSHIP: Exceptional communication, organizational, public speaking and mento
ring skills
BIOINFORMATICS: DNA star, Clone manager, Molecular modeling
COMPUTER SKILLS: Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe illus
trator, Photoshop, Endnote
LANGUAGE: English (Fluent), Mandarin (native)
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Lab Manager and Postdoctoral Research Scientist- Brigham and Women's Hospital an
d Harvard Medical School, Department of Pathology, June 2007-present
-Define CD20+ melanoma subsets and conduct a clinical trial of stage IV melanoma
patients treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody; dissect the microenvironme
ntal signals regulating the dynamics of CD20 expression in melanoma cells and de
velop strategies for optimal therapies
-Characterized perivascular niches: CD133+/ABCB5+ melanoma initiating cell subse
ts at morphological as well as functional levels for therapeutic treatments
-Generated stable SOX2 (embryonic stem cell marker) knockdown in melanoma and ch
aracterized physiological roles of SOX2 knockdown melanoma cell lines in SCID mi
ce
-Dissected BMP7 molecular signals in Niche development and maintenance and tumor
homeostasis in the context of melanoma heterogeneity
-Investigated aggressive melanoma escape BMP7 growth inhibition through concomit
ant up-regulation of antagonist, Noggin
Postdoctoral Research Fellow- Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical S
chool, Department of Medicine and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, November
2003-May 2007
-Investigated the essential domains of EBNA3C from Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) util
izing EBV-Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC)
-Constructed the EBV-BAC for genetic analysis of EBNA3C
-Generated effective viral lysates from BAC-containing 293 cells
-Designed B cell transformation assays and cultured lymphoblastoid cell lines fr
om EBV transformed human B cells
-Characterized lymphoblastoid cell lines transformed from various EBNA3C mutants
by assaying transcriptional properties and FACS analysis of cell cycle
-Constructed the EBNA3C-TAP on the EBV-BAC for co-precipitation of new cellular
factors from EBV transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines
Graduate Research Assistant- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Departm
ent of Microbiology, August 1997-October 2003
-Investigated the essential fatty acid biosynthetic enzymes of Escherichia coli
and Lactococcus lactis
-Isolated fatty acid biosynthetic mutants via localized mutagenesis and tritium
suicide selections
-Conducted molecular modeling of FabG in fatty acid biosynthetic mutants
-Designed genetic methods to demonstrate the essentiality of FabH in E. coli and
L. lactis
-Explored physiological roles of FabH using in vivo radioactive labeling, variou
s enzyme assays, and mass spectral analysis
-Purified lipoyl-domains of E. coli pyruvate dehydrogenase by FPLC and HPLC
Graduate Teaching Assistant- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Departm
ent of Microbiology,
Fall 1999-Spring 2000
-Designed and taught biology and molecular biology lab-lecture undergraduate cou
rse
Research Associate- Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Tai
wan, 1996- 1997
-Investigated mutations at DNA topoisomerase I for camptothecin resistance; used
the yeast system to examine the mutations responsible for camptothecin resistan
ce; expressed and purified GST-Topo I fusion proteins
Biology Teacher- Taipei Municipal Ying-Chiao Junior High School, 1995- 1996
-Taught Biology to classes of 13 year old students; lectured, wrote and graded t
ests, tutored students
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
-American Society for Microbiology and Epstein-Barr Virus Association
PUBLICATIONS
-Chiou-Yan Lai and John E. Cronan, Jr. "beta-Ketoacyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Synth
ase III (FabH) is Essential for Bacterial Fatty Acid Synthesis" (2003) Journal o
f Biological Chemistry 278, 51494-51503
-Chiou-Yan Lai and John E. Cronan, Jr. "Isolation and Characterization of beta-K
etoacyl-ACP Reductase (fabG) Mutants of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica
Serovar Typhimurium" (2004) Journal of Bacteriology 186, 1869-1878
-Chih-Wen Peng, Hong-Chi Chen, Min-Luen Chou, Bo Zhao, Chiou-Yan Lai, Shinn-Zong
Lin, Hsue-Yin Hsu and Elliott Kieff "Hsp72 up regulates Epstein Barr Virus EBN
ALP co-activation with EBNA2" (2007) Blood 109, 5447-5454
-Mei-Yu Hsu, Sherry Rovinsky, Chiou-Yan Lai, Xiaoming Liu, Joan How, John F.Enge
lhardt, and George F. Murphy "Aggressive melanoma cells escape from BMP7-mediate
d autocrine growth inhibition through coordinated Noggin upregulation" (2008) La
boratory Investigation 88, 842-855
-Sungwook Lee, Shuhei Sakakibara, Seiji Maruo, Bo Zhao, Michael A. Calderwood, A
my M. Holthaus, Chiou-Yan Lai, Kenzo Takada, Elliott Kieff, and Eric Johannsen "
Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Protein 3C Domains Necessary for Lymphoblastoid Cell
Growth: Interaction with RBP-J Regulates TCL1" (2009) Journal of Virology 83, 1
2368-12377
-Alvaro C. Laga*, Chiou-Yan Lai*, Qian Zhan, Susan J. Huang, Elsa F. Velazquez,
Qinghong Yang, Mei-Yu Hsu, and George F. Murphy "Expression of The Embryonic St
em Cell Transcription Factor SOX2 in Human Skin: Relevance to Melanocyte and Mer
kel Cell Biology" (2010) American Journal of Pathology Vol. 176, No. 2 (* equal
contributor)
-Chiou-Yan Lai, Shuhei Sakakibara, Mike Calderwood, , Amy Holthaus, Eric Johanns
en, and Elliott Kieff " The Carboxyl Domains of EBNA3C are Dispensable for Epste
in Barr Virus-Mediated B Cell Transformation" Manuscript in preparation.
-Chiou-Yan Lai and Mei-Yu Hsu "CD133 in Melanoma Perivascular Niche Morphogenesi
s and Tumorigenicity" Manuscript in preparation.
PRESENTATIONS
-Chiou-Yan Lai and John E. Cronan, Jr. Isolation and Characterization of *-Ketoa
cyl-ACP Reductase (FabG) Mutants. 102nd General Meeting of American Society for
Microbiology, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2002.
-Chiou-Yan Lai et al. Genetic Analysis of EBNA3C Using an EBV Bacterial Artifici
al Chromosome. 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Res
earch on Epstein-Barr Virus and Associated Diseases, Boston, Massachusetts, 2006
.