Kaohsiung Medical University (KMU) presented, for the first time during its Anniversary Celebration Ceremony, the Outstanding Research Award and the Young Outstanding Research Award to recognize faculty members for their exceptional achievements in academic research.
Professor Ya-Ling Hsu (Distinguished Professor, College of Medicine) received the 2025 Outstanding Research Award, while Associate Professor Wei-Peng Li and Professor Kumar (College of Life Science) were honored with the 2025 Young Outstanding Research Award. The awards were presented by Dr. Ya-Kuang Chen, Chairman of the Kaohsiung Medical University Alumni Education Foundation, the sponsor of these awards. (Figure 1: Prof. Hsu, second from right; Assoc. Prof. Li, first from right; Prof. Kumar, first from left; Chairman Chen, second from left)
Professor Hsu expressed that she felt deeply honored to receive this recognition on behalf of all KMU faculty members devoted to research. She recalled her early research focused on traditional Chinese herbal medicine, during which she developed over fifty herbal extracts and ten traditional formulations to investigate their anticancer, anti-osteoporotic, and immunomodulatory activities. After joining KMU, her research has centered on addressing human health issues by employing single-cell and spatial omics technologies to explore tumor cell activity and developing organ-on-a-chip systems that simulate the blood circulation between the brain and in situ tissues. She aims to advance academic frontiers through these three cutting-edge research directions.
Associate Professor Li leads the Innovative Nanomedicine Laboratory, which integrates nanomedicine and microbial electrochemistry to develop various novel biomedical technologies. His recent works include tumor- targeted membrane-coated nanocapsules, a magnetic DNA purification system enabling molecular-level Raman spectroscopic analysis, and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorescent nanoprobes for rapid antibiotic screening in infectious diseases.These three achievements have been filed as U.S. provisional patent application. He hopes to collaborate with clinicians and faculty members from diverse disciplines to translate these technologies into practical applications.
Professor Kumar established the Nano and Green Analytical Technology Laboratory, focusing on nanotechnology and analytical chemistry. His team is dedicated to developing rapid and eco-friendly sample pretreatment techniques. In recent years, his research has extended to breathomics, analyzing volatile biomarkers and biometabolites in human breath to achieve noninvasive early diagnosis of cancers. He emphasized that the essence of scientific progress lies in team collaboration, and that only through uniting brilliant minds and working collaboratively can scientific research become more meaningful, more sustainable, and more impactful.
Figure 1. Three KMU scholars recognized for their achievements in the 2025 Research Awards.