Wen-Hsuan Chang

As the head of AcuraStem’s Research Team, Wen-Hsuan Chang has worked with its founders to build the company from the ground up. Chang helped establish the core technology platform at AcuraStem, and now leads internal research projects and collaborations with external partners. Chang is responsible for therapeutic target identification, assay development for drug discovery, and platform expansion. She received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Following one year of investigation into neurotransmitter release biology at Fu-Jen Catholic University, she entered graduate school and received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California. During her graduate work at USC, Chang identified a novel mechanism through which Wnt signaling controls the development of the mammalian cortex. After her Ph.D., Chang performed postdoctoral work in Dr. Justin Ichida’s laboratory at USC where she identified key mechanisms by which the C9orf72 repeat expansion causes neurodegeneration in ALS and frontotemporal dementia. Chang also serves on the board of the Southern California Taiwanese Biotechnology Association and has published multiple peer-reviewed scientific research papers in journals for the fields of neuroscience, stem cell biology, and molecular biology.