Chih-Ming Tsai, PhD

Chih-Ming Tsai grew up in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and completed his undergraduate studies at National Chaiyi University, majoring in Ecology while studying frogs and insects.  He then did a Master's Degree at National Yang-Ming University under the supervision of Prof. Shie-Liang (Edmond) Hsieh, examining the Galectin-1 in plasma cell biology and immune responses.  Subsequently, Chih-Ming joined the PhD program at Academia Sinica in Taipei, working with Prof. Kuo-I Lin on several projects in the field of glycoimmunology, including further analysis of galectin function in plasma cells, functional expression of a unique regulatory disialyl motif and Siglec receptors in plasma cell differentiation,  and the molecular mechanisms of the recognition of galectins by Candida albicans, with his research extending into a first postdoctoral fellowship.  

 

In 2014, Chih-Ming joined Victor Nizet’s laboratory at University of California- San Diego as a postdoctoral fellow, with the Program of Excellence in Glycosciences (PEG) and launched projects on how bacterial sialic acid mimicry and sialidase production influence innate and adaptive immune responses, including inflammasome activation in macrophages, antigen presentation, and B cell differentiation and antibody responses.  Many studies were conducted in full reciprocal collaboration with the laboratory of Prof. Ajit Varki.

 

Chih-Ming currently works as a project scientist on mechanisms of staphylococcal vaccine interference.